The Last Person – NYTimes.com.
India sees itself as a developing country and its people see themselves as having a mission. What that mission seems to be is “Go forth and do good for others, and in so doing, prosper.” Such a mission gives shape and meaning to life. I believe most Americans would also like to see themselves as having such a mission.
Kennedy energized the country by giving us such a mission. “Ask what you can do for your country.” So, in a sense, did Ronald Reagan, “Go forth and prosper for yourselves,” he told us, while the Shrub simply said, “Go shopping.”
I would like to see our current White House resident give us such a mission. The alternative is the mission OWSers have given themselves have given to themselves, to call the whole system into question. This is not such a bad idea, given the state we find ourselves in, but I do believe, as Kennedy did, that far more can and must be done to deal with the structural problems plaguing our economy.
“Occupy a job” is not the answer when there aren’t any jobs to be had. Nor is it much of a mission. With young people so deeply in debt coming out of college they will earn a grubstake for themselves at the wages they are forced to accept, those who would “go forth and do good good for others, and in so doing prosper’” must, of necessity become less numerous.