Another Misunderstanding of Love

From the June 2, 2010 NYT article, "The Culture of Narcissism." Ross Douthat reports that college students of today have less empathy than students of 1980s and 1990s. Apparently, there is this thing called self-centeredness that is causing quite an epidemic among the college students.

First of all, the fact that people are self-centered and prideful and vain should not be news. We not only live in an age of anxiety but also of overinflated egos to compensate for the fact that we feel small and that we live every day with fear. This is basic psychology. So, there is no need, statistical or otherwise, to point out the obvious.

Second of all, in his article, Douthat does not mention love once. He writes: "Certainly there's some truth to the idea of high achievement, humanitarian or otherwise, often goes hand in hand with a certain arrogance and self-involvement, and that the people who change the world in dramatic ways aren't always the kind of people you'd want as next-door neighbors." Perhaps, but getting things done in the world in the end has little to do with my own self-image, or God forbid that infuriating phrase "self-esteem." Getting things done, whether cleaning the floor or being a President, has to do with an utter recognition of who I am, that is, who I am called to be, by God in this world.

Douthat does write that "the idea that mass narcissism is the key to a better world" is not beneficial for anybody. Narcissism often times leads to nihilism and it reduces us to dreamers, i.e. people who are merely concerned with the immediate, temporal pleasure. Common good must always supercede the individual good, and the way to do that is to answer the call, which speaks to the world about the gifts we've been given by God.