You Can Only Do so Much
One of my favorite books of all time is Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Yes, I know it’s a back breaking 1100 pages, and at times scholarly and convoluted, but there is no text better suited to the problems of today. I also heavily identify with Dagny Taggert, the main character and railroad heiress of this amazing book.
For those of you who haven’t read Atlas Shrugged, allow me to summarize (spoilers ahead)! The novel takes place in a dystopian US on the verge of collapse, a US eerily similar to the one we live in today. Caught in the middle of this failing society, Dagny does everything possible to navigate her collapsing country, keep her trains running, and move the goods they transport.
At the same time, the failing US government does everything to make Dagny’s job impossible: from limiting the coal and steel Dagny can have to restricting the speed at which her trains may operate. Indeed, this poor woman is hampered by regulation after cumbersome regulation, and as the novel progresses, they only get worse.
For a while Dagny manages to work around the system. She trades for raw materials, uproots one line to repair another, and makes clever deals with other businessmen. She improvises and adapts, doing everything to keep things going until one day the bureaucrats go too far, besting even her, and she realizes she can’t beat this.
Finally, she retreats to the edges of civilization with other businessmen to wait out the collapse of the United States and the famine and violence that inevitably follow a defunct supply chain. This isn’t a decision she comes to lightly. As I’ve explained, most of this book’s 1100 pages are filled with Dagny doing everything in her power to prevent the inevitable, but when she finally accepts her limitations, it is a bittersweet moment in her story and a rich point of character development any author would love to write.
I identify with Dagny, because like her, I’ve realized that there is only so much I can do. Despite her best efforts, Dagney could not stop the collapse of her railroad. Likewise, I cannot stop the politicians from ruining my home, demonizing my ancestors, or bringing in hyenas to terrify the native lions. I can only expose their idiocy through my keyboard, and so I shall. If, despite my best warnings, the country still burns, then I must let it. At least the suicide flames will give me light by which to see my paper and pen.
This brings me to you, dear reader. Like Dagny and I, you can only do so much. So, identify what you can do, and then do it! Even if it that only amounts to caring for your family or helping a neighbor, well, that’s something, and no small something! Knowing what you can do takes wisdom and discernment; if you’re lacking take the time to get some. I promise it will prove a worthwhile endeavor.
As always feel free to drop me a question on goodreads or email me at PRInfidel911@gmail.com
Stay strong and Infidel on, everyone.
For those of you who haven’t read Atlas Shrugged, allow me to summarize (spoilers ahead)! The novel takes place in a dystopian US on the verge of collapse, a US eerily similar to the one we live in today. Caught in the middle of this failing society, Dagny does everything possible to navigate her collapsing country, keep her trains running, and move the goods they transport.
At the same time, the failing US government does everything to make Dagny’s job impossible: from limiting the coal and steel Dagny can have to restricting the speed at which her trains may operate. Indeed, this poor woman is hampered by regulation after cumbersome regulation, and as the novel progresses, they only get worse.
For a while Dagny manages to work around the system. She trades for raw materials, uproots one line to repair another, and makes clever deals with other businessmen. She improvises and adapts, doing everything to keep things going until one day the bureaucrats go too far, besting even her, and she realizes she can’t beat this.
Finally, she retreats to the edges of civilization with other businessmen to wait out the collapse of the United States and the famine and violence that inevitably follow a defunct supply chain. This isn’t a decision she comes to lightly. As I’ve explained, most of this book’s 1100 pages are filled with Dagny doing everything in her power to prevent the inevitable, but when she finally accepts her limitations, it is a bittersweet moment in her story and a rich point of character development any author would love to write.
I identify with Dagny, because like her, I’ve realized that there is only so much I can do. Despite her best efforts, Dagney could not stop the collapse of her railroad. Likewise, I cannot stop the politicians from ruining my home, demonizing my ancestors, or bringing in hyenas to terrify the native lions. I can only expose their idiocy through my keyboard, and so I shall. If, despite my best warnings, the country still burns, then I must let it. At least the suicide flames will give me light by which to see my paper and pen.
This brings me to you, dear reader. Like Dagny and I, you can only do so much. So, identify what you can do, and then do it! Even if it that only amounts to caring for your family or helping a neighbor, well, that’s something, and no small something! Knowing what you can do takes wisdom and discernment; if you’re lacking take the time to get some. I promise it will prove a worthwhile endeavor.
As always feel free to drop me a question on goodreads or email me at PRInfidel911@gmail.com
Stay strong and Infidel on, everyone.
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You Can Only Do So Much
Thoughts on our current situation as Americans and what literature can teach us about our limitations over current affairs.
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