America is struggling.

While this country and its people have faced their fair share of hardships, including the Great Depression, several wars, terrorist attacks, and countless devastating natural disasters, we are aware of the key attributes of our national identity: It seems that they are losing confidence in their ability to solve problems. Achieve what was once considered “impossible”.

That confidence stems from at least three prevalent traits: spontaneity, gratitude, and humility, which are now sorely lacking. (Related: Starr Parker: The reasons for our country’s decline are pretty clear)

Throughout nearly two and a half centuries of our existence, initiatives have been behind every aspect of America’s political and economic success. Initiative is tied to individual effort. It comes from optimism and a fundamental belief that you can do something. It is about recognizing agency, self-efficacy, and the inner field of control.

By contrast, our national discourse now focuses not on individual capabilities but on faceless collectives: “systemic racism,” “white supremacy,” and “patriarchy.” , “toxic masculinity,” “climate change,” etc. Ever-changing definitions somehow hinder individual success and threaten society as a whole, but individuals have little control over it. These gigantic social problems require equally large-scale remedies, such as dismantling the “institutions” of racism or fundamentally changing the climate, and therefore can only be addressed by governments. It is said (probably global government).

In the face of this relentless drumbeat of negativity, many otherwise grateful and optimistic young people are depressed, overwhelmed with anxiety and self-loathing, angry and desperate. Not surprising. It’s hard to be grateful when you’re bombarded with the message that everything around you is terrible.

Contrary to popular narrative, victimhood is real. no empowering; it only depresses. A lack of gratitude quickly leads to a lack of spontaneity. After all, why bother? Is it any wonder, then, that these same demoralized young people want a bigger government with stronger control to “solve” the problems they have been told they cannot do? Is not it?

The third missing attribute is humility. This emphasizes my individual role in a thriving society and may seem contradictory. But it is essential to avoid arrogance, the opposite of humility.

If initiative is the mother of competence, arrogance breeds disaster. It happens as often in the private sector as it does in government.

Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush took people thousands of feet into the ocean on an experimental vessel he chose not to certify using nationally recognized safety standards. was arrogant, which he considered an unnecessary obstacle to his genius. On June 18, the Ocean Gate submarine imploded, killing five people, including Rush.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrogant when he swindled tens of billions of dollars from others via cryptocurrency exchanges, but he himself, and anyone else on his team, was arrogant. I wasn’t qualified to keep it. He had an estimated value of FTX of $32 billion until it collapsed spectacularly and went bankrupt. Banker Freed is on trial for fraud.

It was hubris that Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, thought she could develop a machine that tested for multiple diseases using just a single drop of blood, without any knowledge of science or medicine. This is not possible with the most sophisticated machines ever developed. Holmes’ machine didn’t work at all, and she extorted more than $700 million from her investors.

Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Peter Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance fund ‘gain-of-function’ study to see if bat viruses can be genetically engineered to ‘jump’ into humans What it offered was arrogance, especially in large-scale environments. Foreign laboratories with inadequate safety protocols.

It is arrogant for people in government and media to act like they alone know the truth, or to censor public access to competing information.

And in the name of “saving the climate,” government officials say they can completely cut off energy sources, reduce or radically alter agricultural production, and shut down entire industries without dire consequences. What people assume is presumptuous.

This idea cannot come to dominate the American mind. We must refocus our attention on what enabled Americans to achieve greatness and overcome adversity. To thank our ancestors and those who, in spite of their failures, contributed to our freedom and prosperity. To focus on what each of us can do to be successful in our lives and solve the problems at hand. And we need to approach it with humility, recognizing both our own limitations and the reality that our most meaningful contributions often come from sources and people we don’t expect. I have.

To learn more about Laura Hollis and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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