Friday, Sept. 2, 2022
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
The problem of the individual is not clarified by stressing the antagonism between the individual and society, but by stressing their mutual reinforcement. — Ruth Benedict
Since the time of Romanticism, with its emphasis on the opposition between the artist and society, some societies have tended to stress the values of the individual over and against those of the social order. We speak much of individual will and freedom, and less about ideas and ideals of community.
Perhaps that is why many of us feel so alone. Some of us, particularly if we’re male, have been brought up to be independent, self-reliant, and competitive, and we may now find this a burden rather than a blessing.
We now have the chance to forge new bonds and create new relationships. Our Twelve Step program has carefully and deliberately evolved as a self-supporting community whose basis is mutual help and whose ethic is love, not competition. As we learn to live the program each day, we carry this message to others who may suffer from lives of isolation and destructive addiction.
I am proud to be a member of a group that prizes love and community above all else.
Hazelden Foundation
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