Analysis Of Scott Russell Sanders's Essay 'The Common Life'

At a young age, we would strive to become successful merely for the sake of everyone knowing our names. Of course it was fame we sought, but deeper in our childish hearts was the fear of being forgotten. From our early fear of being forgotten comes our growing need to become anonymous. As individuals, we take our initial fear of insignificance and force ourselves to believe that it is insignificance that we want, only so we do not ever have to confront it. In his essay “The Common Life”, Scott Russell Sanders addresses the relationship between the individual’s need for invisibility and the burden which it places on American society. If everyone withdraws from society and focuses only on themselves, what society would we have left? An individual’s longing for the comforting state of anonymity ultimately becomes a detrimental force to the wellbeing of society. …show more content…
Once someone is removed from the pressures of conformity that society pushes onto us, that person is free to do whatever he/she desires. In many cases, this is true. Often times people grow attached to these periods without responsibility because of how idealistic they are. Theoretically, life without responsibility would be great, but if all individuals begin to withdraw from their contributions towards society, society would cease to exist. As Sanders points out, what people need are “seasons of withdrawals from responsibility”, which is why we have created activities such as vacations and get aways. America was built on the concept of liberty and freedom. As americans we have the right to this freedom and liberty but must exercise it in a way that helps the society our founding fathers worked so hard to