[July 31, 2022] Take care of yourself. Also, take care of yourself today so that it does not interfere with you taking care of yourself tomorrow and in the future. You cannot do what you want to do right now because that behavior might be impulsive and pleasure-seeking.
Getting drunk, injecting hallucinating drugs into yourself, careless sexual behavior, or betraying people to gain a momentary advantage is not a good strategy for personal development. You are going to pay for it tomorrow, pay for it next week, and into the years that follow. You will exist in the future, and because you have to live with yourself, there are only a certain number of ways to act that will work.
Yet, it’s more than being responsible for your future self or some set of potential future selves; you also have to act in a way that also works for your family; otherwise, your family is going to disintegrate, and the breakdown will cause you and them all sorts of misery and grief. And not just your family now, but also your family in the future. In addition, it’s not just your family but your community. This means you have to set your aspirations to serve yourself in the broadest sense over the most extended time and serve your family and community.
You are responsible for your destiny. You should view the world not as a place, not of groups, but of sovereign individuals responsible for their own destinies, their families, and their communities. This idea is essentially the ethos of the modern West.
In the West, we’ve done an excellent job of articulating the idea of the sovereign individual and made that idea the cornerstone of our political and economic system. What is so great about this Western idea is that it works, and it works repetitively over time, resiliently (when challenged), and robustly. The evidence of this is everywhere for us to see with our own eyes.
Across the world, more people are adopting this philosophical idea of the sovereign individual, even in the remotest parts of the most repressive nations. Folks are becoming better off so fast that it is staggering. That is due to us discussing the advantages of the ethos of the responsible sovereign individual.
This Western-inspired idea is not the same as an individual with rights. And while rights are not irrelevant (they are essential), rights are there to facilitate your adoption of individual responsibility. Such an incredible concept contradicts the collectivist idea that rejects individualism and its link with responsibility. The collectivist says that responsibility is tied to the group (however and whichever group is important at that moment). The collectivist is wrong.
Take care of yourself, your family, and your community now and into the future.
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Interesting that this is a Western civilization idea.
Yes, and this, IMHO, is what explains the ease at which the various forms of Marxism spread so easily in the East and yet meets great resistance in the West.
Great topic, excellent article. ✔
Enjoyed the article and I wouldn’t mind getting another article on the same target and expand this idea. Gen. S. please give us a bit more on it.
Yep, another blog post on this topic would be appreciated. I’d too like to read a little more on it. I’ve not seen anything on this anywhere else.
Finally, someone who is willing to hit the progressive liberals on the head and knock them off their high horse. Thank you so much, Gen. Satterfield for your spot-on article about the individual. We are NOT part of groups to be tagged and then treated as part of that group.
You are responsible for your destiny. You should view the world not as a place, not of groups, but of sovereign individuals responsible for their own destinies, their families, and their communities. This idea is essentially the ethos of the modern West.” – Gen. Doug Satterfield
The sovereign individual is the base element for human interaction. Don’t let the Marxists tell you otherwise or that trip will end only in disaster.
Ernest, I agree with you and we have seen this over and over repeat itself and result in the deaths of millions.
—– at least 150 million. No small number. We call that EVIL.
Communism and socialism are the greatest evils ever to have inflicted mankind. Yet, most of us are focused on whether to call a man a she and a woman a him. Come on folks, get off your high horse and recognize the real evil in our mist. Those who promulgate these evils should be shown the real evil of what they preach and shown the way of individuals and not the group. Groups are necessary but we are best treated not by the color of our skin but by our character. Oh, someone already said that.
Great comment, Max. 😊
Yet the “super smart, progressive intellects” of our time have completely missed it. Yeah, right. They are NOT smart or progressive but their ideas are a throwback to before the 19th century. Old ideas are hard, sometimes, to dump.
Nicely written and thanks Gen. Satterfield for this timely article that mostly young folks need to hear.