Society is the sum of the results of people's choices and actions – yours and mine and everyone else's – whether they be altruistic or self-centered, engaged or withdrawn, wholesome or toxic, sensible or reckless, kind or cruel, loving or indifferent.
We must not wait for others to sustain and improve society. We should now and always do in life at least the share that we believe a functioning society requires of us. We should expect our perception of what is our share to evolve. We should do that share without complaint or pridefulness because, after all, it is simply our share. And we should avoid self-righteousness lest we inject that poison into our lives, the lives of those around us, and, particularly by the example we set, into society.
In this light, perhaps the most important discipline for ourselves and for society – for the peace, productivity, fairness and happiness of society – is not the discipline we may wish others had. It is the discipline we, as individuals, create and live by.
As if in reward, those who set and live by the discipline of going cheerfully beyond their minimum share quickly learn that doing so works as well in relationships as it does for society.
