Bootstraps

I often struggle with a balance between my individual needs and my sense of community engagement. At what point does "self care" become "selfish" and at what point is "selfless" essentially "reckless"?

I think is important for Christians to lift up and try always to remember the interconnections that sustain and propel us. I think there is a temptation among Americans (perhaps especially among white, Protestant Americans) to buy into the "bootstraps" myth of individualism that leads people like Donald Trump to think he built his business all by his lonesome. The moment I start to see myself as a person who acts alone in the world, I not only disrespect and disregard the many lives that have helped me get to where I am, celebrated me and held me in my lower moments; I fail to see a myriad of possibilities before me that exist in the interrelationships I am a part of- the paths forward I might be blind to if I think I am walking alone.

I hope that makes sense.