The more individualistic you are, the more power you have, the more community-oriented you are, the less. my son when he was 13- 10/8/14

My son has autism and has a different point of view. When, he said this on the way home from school, this just rang true to me. Part of this troubles me somewhat. Of course, many people hold this as the primary tenant of what our country is based on. Cut your own path. Make your own success.

The boy can be cryptic at times. I suspect that he was talking, well, he likes to make proclamations about society, but most of this was probably about kids. In that if you follow what everyone else is doing, then you are not doing what you want.

Yet I also think he was looking at society as a whole as well. Maybe the truth is this statement worried me because I try to be community minded. I want to work for the common good and believe people should be coming together. However, those people that are not community minded are more successful. They focus their energy on getting what they want. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Henry Ford was individualistic and he brought cars to the masses. Thomas Edison did not try spend time in a soup kitchen. He was in his laboratory exploring the things that interested and excited him.

Can we have a society of individualistic people? Do individualistic people end up doing more good for society than those that collaborating and putting the needs of society over their own?