While I haven’t yet completed reading this book, I feel it more appropriate to comment on it beforehand. My viewpoints on life may be skewed once I learn what the main character decides, and that may also alter my opinion of the novel as a whole. But one thing at a time.

It’s seldom that a book brings me to reflect upon my own views of the world. Atlas Shrugged tells the tale of society’s destruction. The debate within my own mind is who’s ultimately right—those that work for the benefit of others, or those that work for the benefit of themselves.

I believe most of us are somewhere in the middle, but this novel makes you pick sides. That decision determines the fate of their crumbling society. Who has the ultimate power in the world, after all?

To say I’m on the side of “those working for themselves” almost goes against everything I believe as a Christian, but it’s not a completely selfish decision. To admit such a viewpoint is a sense of confidence, a meaning behind the work. Why do we work, after all, if not for personal gain? Financial, social, etc, status. This view is represented by the big names of industry, of company owners and logical thinkers. All the rest, those that claim to work for the benefit of society, are rambling, inept, people who feed off the work of the others.

Perhaps I always worked for myself. I do good deeds, volunteer my time, and I enjoy helping others, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. I always claimed to not care for the recognition, but I lied to myself. In college, I never received the “volunteer of the year” award, as many thought I deserved. I thought so, too, though wouldn’t admit it. But why shouldn’t we admit it? Is there anyone that’s truly selfless to the point of working anonymously for the benefit of others?

This book presents people I’ve never found, those confident, powerful people that would be America’s heroes. Why did I never have a hero? Lack of options. This story alone has provided more heroes for me than anyone who actually exists. Where are the people that exist in this novel, and why haven’t I met them?

Thursday, 28 January 2010   ♦   books