Letter: The rules of life are very simple – Detroit Lakes Tribune

The following is a letter to the editor submitted by a reader. It does not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper. To submit a letter, email nbowe@dlnewspapers.com.

Too many Americans, especially laissez-faire Republicans but also neoliberal Democrats, are devoted to the selfish, authoritarian philosophy of Ayn Rand, a woman whose tragic early life experiences turned her into a woman so narcissistic and self-serving that she recommended we let others die on the streets if they dont have enough. That way, she said, we can have more than we need.

She never understood that many countries with robust capitalism, like Norway or Sweden, also have Medicare for all, subsidized childcare, sturdy maternal and paternal leave, and subsidized post-secondary education that doesnt require students to go into debt to earn a degree or learn a trade.

What matters in life is having enough, not too much. What matters is community, which translates into English as cooperation. Some Americans Ive met lately act as if the word comes from across the sea. It doesnt. The laws that are best are the ones that do the greatest good for the largest number of people.

Ayn Rand cult members claim to value freedom and individualism but, at one extreme, want to take away Social Security and Medicare, two programs that increase freedom and protect individuals. They also want to restrict a woman's right to choose how to live their own lives.

Some of us, despite inflation, have been lucky. We have enough. We take one day at a time, live each moment to the full, and give back as warranted by our means. Were civil even to those who curse us. We do our best to practice the Golden Rule do to others as you want done to yourself and the Serenity Prayer: Give me courage to change things I can, serenity to accept things I cant, and the wisdom to tell the difference.

None of us need more. We only need enough. Life is a series of adventures and misadventures. Theres great beauty around us. The earth zips around the sun at 67,000 mph. If you stand still, you can feel it move under your feet. Its fragile. All of us are stuck on it together.

The rules, therefore, are very simple:

Perhaps JFK, in his famous Peace Speech at American University in 1963, the year he was assassinated by a man with a murderous weapon, put it best: For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our childrens future. And we are all mortal.

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Letter: The rules of life are very simple - Detroit Lakes Tribune