Me, Me Society - How did we get here?

Take a look around you.  Have you ever noticed or does it seem that American's are becoming ever increasingly selfish?  I ask myself from time to time just how did we get here.

How do I keep this from becoming more than just another rant?  The answer is in solutions.  I believe that the solutions are simple and easy.  I believe that if each person makes one or two simple changes in their respective daily life we'll bring about global changes rather quickly.

All of this selfishness spills over into every aspect of our lives from the way we drive to the way we treat our neighbors and on up to the very policies that we vote for or against.  It seems that we are concerned only with what will serve ourselves individually.  I'll be addressing this in more detail in another post that I'm currently working on however it does apply here as well.

I believe that the very simple answer lies in courtesy and concern for your fellow man.  This isn't just some cliche that we hear during the Holiday season or something that the preacher tells us and then we go on with our lives.  No.  This is something that is real and is absent from society.  How do you fix this? You.  You take one simple step which is to serve another person.  This is easy.  Allow someone the right-of-way at the next four way intersection.  The next time someone says something that you may find offensive, give them a pass and let it go.  Wait the fifteen seconds that it takes for the next person to get to the door so that you can hold it open for him or her.

The solution, the very core of the solution can be found in the willingness to humble yourself before others.  As a manager, you can work harder to enable your employees to do their job.  Focus on things that make it easier for them to be more productive.  When you see your neighbor putting up Christmas lights, ask if you can help.  When you rake the leaves in fall, make sure that you start part of the way in your neighbors yard and rake them into yours and then pick them up.  Do you see where I'm going with this, the list is endless and each item on the list is simple.  The key is that it's not a list, it's a mindset that will become habit if you only focus on one or two small things regularly.

In closing this post I ask two things: First, please stop and ask yourself, "How will this affect everyone else?"  Second, ask yourself, "What small thing can I do today to server another?"  When we as a community truly look after the needs of each other, there'll be no room for the government to do it.  Remember the government doesn't deal in prosperity, the government deals in disparity.  Just take a look at any government program designed to help people.  You will find disparity; not prosperity.  Only hard work, motivation, and preparedness by a collective of individuals brings about prosperity.  No government has or will ever be capable of providing prosperity, they can only protect the freedoms that allow the opportunity.