The essay reminds me that autonomy is a glorious thing - we are ends in ourselves, not someone else's means to an end. It takes courage to be autonomous, both from the individual and from the group around that individual. Teddy Roosevelt said it:
It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly ... who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Life itself requires audacity to be truly alive. Audacity, as you pointed out needs no boss - no coach, no manager. It needs more than anything, freedom and respect from others. This essay is one of enormous hope to me - young people I work with are timid and aspire to the imprisoned safety of the cage not the free ferocity of the wilderness. Too many aspire to be either the sheep or the shepherd - to few aspire to be neither.
It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly ... who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Life itself requires audacity to be truly alive. Audacity, as you pointed out needs no boss - no coach, no manager. It needs more than anything, freedom and respect from others. This essay is one of enormous hope to me - young people I work with are timid and aspire to the imprisoned safety of the cage not the free ferocity of the wilderness. Too many aspire to be either the sheep or the shepherd - to few aspire to be neither.