Thoughts on life from around the world

The last pick in the final round of the yearly NFL Draft has long been known as “Mr. Irrelevant” because it’s so unlikely he’ll ever make an impact on an NFL field.

But the league’s dominance in the sports media landscape means that anything about the NFL gets clicks. That, plus the surprising success of one recent Mr. Irrelevant — Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers — have led to an interesting dynamic: With so many annual stories about the last pick in the draft, it’s now the second-to-last pick who’s truly irrelevant.

Second-to-last is where my favorite essay of Ayn Rand’s falls in her canon. “What Can One Do?” is the penultimate entry in the collection of essays — Philosophy: Who Needs It — she culled together before her death. And to me, “What Can One Do?” is her most accessible, most endearing piece of writing. 

It’s plainspoken, direct, and loving in a way she (intentionally) didn’t often write. Even her most ardent critics, who neither understand nor have likely read a word of her writing but jump at any chance to cast her as some fire-breathing, child-eating, Iron Lady of Hostility, would, I think, at least appreciate her tone and approach.

Rand says, “The battle is primarily intellectual (philosophical), not political.” Couldn’t agree more. 

“Today,” she writes later, “most people are … anxious, confused, and groping for answers. Are you able to enlighten them? Can you answer their questions? Can you offer them a consistent case?” I love that, and want the answer to be yes.

She also advises not to “make philosophical speeches when unnecessary and inappropriate.” I chuckled there, remembering how Francisco d’Anconia interrupts a dinner party with his famous Money Speech in Atlas Shrugged. Of course, that was fiction, and Rand was making a point.

Anyway, although it tackles the inclination to feel irrelevant, “What Can One Do?” is quite the opposite of irrelevant. In just a few pages, it answers one of life’s big questions: What can one tiny person do in a seemingly chaotic, incomprehensible world of billions of people and infinite problems?

I spent some time at the Prometheus Fellowship retreat in Nairobi, Kenya, asking students of Objectivism that very question: In this crazy world full of wars, poverty, inflation … what can one do? Here are some of their answers.

Pavel Lukacko (Australia): “Be the best person you can be. Only happy people can have an impact.”

Marc-Antoine Rivero-séguin (Canada): “Everything and nothing. You can be Alexander the Great or a total unknown. But ultimately, I’d say it like this: Achieve your ambition, no matter what.”

Dyuti Pandya (India): “Nothing. You live and then you die. Just kidding! That’s my pseudo-existentialist answer. I’ll tell you what I can do and am doing: building a better trade policy that allows individuals to continue sharing knowledge with the integration of technology and trade.”

Sanni Johnson (Nigeria): “Drops of water add up to an ocean.”

Amjad Aun (Syria): “I disagree with the premise of the question; I don’t agree that the world is so crazy or bad. So, two words: Tolerate and inspire.”

Štěpán Kovář (Czechia): “Promote Bitcoin throughout Eastern Europe. Well, that’s what I can do, at least!”

Walid Tamtam (Canada): “I think Rand wrote about that. She said if it had to be boiled down to one word it would be: ‘Speak.’” [He’s right; she wrote: “If you like condensations (provided you bear in mind their full meaning), I will say: when you ask “What can one do?”— the answer is “SPEAK” (provided you know what you are saying)].

Beatriz Gouveia Da Silva Santos (Portugal): “Grow your own vegetables.”

Gracious Phiri (Zimbabwe): “Make life better for one person who’s meaningful to you.”

Ondřej Chlubna (Czechia): “Don’t participate in evil. That’s the baseline. Then, live the best life you can and embody your ideas.”

Ethan Lecavalier-Kidney (Canada): “I don’t look at the world that way in the first place. If each person changes one thing, one-one-hundredth of one percent … well, it adds up.”
 

Letícia Cruz De Barros (Brazil): “It starts by realizing there is objective reality, and the fact that man pursues his own happiness is part of it.”

João Menezes (Brazil): “I read a study recently about how many people the average person knows. I don’t remember the numbers but the point is: It’s a lot more than you think.”

Marko Savić (Czechia): “Well, one can certainly lose hope. That’s easy to do. But I haven’t and won’t. The night is darkest before the dawn. If you’re doing a job honestly, that’s a good start.”

Sumaira Waseem (Pakistan): “What can I do? The things I can do best!”

LEARN MORE ABOUT SUMAIRA:

Sebastian Ariel Citrea (Argentina): “We live in a world with lots of problems, yes. So, teach people how to solve these problems.”

Alpha Champo (Zambia): “Behave morally. And that includes condemning what is immoral.”

Rashid Shahriar (Bangladesh): “Disobey objectively immoral and unreasonable laws.”

Filip Blaha (Czechia): “I can only tell you what I can do: I signed up to teach economics part-time at a high school. They don’t pay me much, but the energy it gives me is invaluable.”

Tania Rak (Ukraine): “Be aware and love the people closest to your heart. But I don’t agree that the world actually IS as miserable as you say … during war, the number of weddings rises; those are happy occasions, and if we agree with this premise of misery, we won’t celebrate them properly. Let’s not play into the war mongers’ hands by being miserable. That’s what they want.”

Nayyar Abbas (Pakistan): “One cannot find the ‘meaning of life,’ but one can find the meaning of his life. That’s an important distinction.”

Edgar Mugenzi (Burundi): “I actually think one person can do a lot. In my country, an SFL coordinator pretty much single-handedly opened business in the private sector to many people. I can already see how much better business is.”

Nikola Ilievski (Macedonia). “I don’t believe in easy solutions. Nothing worthwhile is easy. But I guess you have to look at it realistically: Don’t try to change the world without changing yourself first.”

Anano Khorbaladze (Georgia): “I can answer in four words: Live and let live.”

These were all, of course, good answers; I expected nothing less from some of Students For Liberty’s best and brightest. But then I got one that caught me off guard.

Connor Sutton (Canada): “I want to hear your answer first.”

I was tempted to give Rand’s answer; who could say it better? But then I thought: These students have all clearly internalized her philosophy, so maybe I’ll try a different angle. 

I thought about it for a second, then two, then three. Here’s the best I could come up with: “Counter-economics; buy what you believe in, even if it’s illegal. Don’t buy what you don’t, even if it’s convenient. And live your best life, with lots of music and love in your heart.”

What’s your answer? (You can send it to me if you’re so inclined at: [email protected].) 

It’s a question worth thinking about because, as Rand wrote, “If you want to influence a country’s intellectual trend, the first step is to bring order to your own ideas and integrate them into a consistent case, to the best of your knowledge and ability … When or if your convictions are in your conscious, orderly control, you will be able to communicate them to others.”

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This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions.