Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for Senate from Massachusetts, says that no one had achieved success without a help from society and should pay back to the society after achieving success. Mr. Obama is repeating the same theme in his speeches for re-election. In an interesting article in NYT,  Mr. David Brooks discusses how much role is played by an  individual and other forces in one’s success, and how one’s perspective changes with age. He writes;

“In your 20s, for example, you should regard yourself as an Ayn Randian Superman who is the architect of the wonder that is you.’

“In your 30s and 40s, you will begin to think like a political scientist. You’ll have a lower estimation of your own power and a greater estimation of the power of the institutions you happen to be in.”

“Then in your 50s and 60s, you will become a sociologist, understanding that relationships are more powerful than individuals. The higher up a person gets, the more time that person devotes to scheduling and personnel. ”

“Then in your 70s and 80s, you’ll be like an ancient historian. Your mind will bob over the decades and then back over the centuries, and you’ll realize how deeply you were formed by the ancient traditions of your people — being Mormon or Jewish or black or Hispanic. You’ll appreciate how much power the dead have over the living, since this will one day be your only power. You’ll be struck by the astonishing importance of luck — the fact that you took this bus and not another, met this person and not another.”

“In short, as maturity develops and the perspectives widen, the smaller the power of the individual appears, and the greater the power of those forces flowing through the individual”

To read the complete article click on the link below;

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/opinion/brooks-the-credit-illusion.html