Self-Reliance and Individualism have their limits.

The brave man is not afraid to serve, voluntarily a greater cause than he for the common good. Note I said voluntarily.  I recognize my debt to others and the civil society in which I live.  God made us strong only for a while so that we can help others.  One cannot only think of one's self but i also believe in the virtue of self-reliance because I know that in self-reliance is great strength, joy and dignity.  But I am also wise enough to know that one man alone is not enough; united we stand -as free men with a free choice-divided we fall.   The virtue of self-reliance and individualism if taken the extreme is a flawed ideal that constricts our social, national and our personal emotional natures.  No man is an island; we live and flourish in communities.  It is in the context of a civil society and its social structures that great things can be done and achieved never forgetting the right to individual freedom, individual conscience to worship God (or not) as one wishes in one's private life.   I believe very strongly in the private life, my private religion and my private languages but i am also a citizen.  I have individual rights but I also have duties to perform for my school, my community, my state, my nation and my house of God.   If you do not know such virtues or such community spirit then I pity you.  You are missing out on the chance to help others and be helped by them and to gain the love and gratitude of your neighbors and your fellows.   RICHARD K. MUNRO