James David Lewis

The Shortfalls of Solitude

In a society that craves the success of the individual, an implication arises that any success or failure is our own--or at least that's the message delivered. Successes? Great. You win that contract, close that deal, beat that level in your video game, get an A on your test! It was you, and all your hard work that made it so. But slip up your pitch, lose the deal, or fail your test, and it was also you, and your failed efforts, that caused it to be so. Even more damning, you might remember that when you were out celebrating that big contract, you might remember that your coworkers or partners were trying to claim the credit for that success all to themselves--"Hey, if I hadn't edited that slide we would have been screwed!" or "Hey, if I hadn't done that research on the company we would have never known how to pitch it!" That strange paradox of individualism: in trying to promote ourselves, we think that we need others to steal successes as our own!