What Do We Need for Our Development?

From Lebowitz:

What do we need for our development?

2. There are two points, though, that we need to stress. First, if we are going to talk about the possibility of human development, we have to recognize that a precondition for that development is sufficient food, good health, education, and the opportunity to make decisions for ourselves. How can we possibly develop all our potential if we are hungry, in bad health, poorly educated, or dominated by others? Secondly, since we are not identical, what we need for our own self-development obviously differs for everyone.

I'm not going to write too much today, because I'm most interested in the responses, and the dialogue we have there. Two comments before we go on. First, I apologize if folks had a hard time making comments on the first day. I didn't have it set up for as open of access as I should have (my own ignorance), but I think I've fixed that. Second, if you are just taking your first look at the blog today, take a look at yesterday's blog and the comments that followed it. This is meant to be a conversation, and though I see it going in all kinds of directions at once, it is following a coherent path.

Finally, Lebowitz calls this "two points," but there are, of course, several points contained in each one. The first is obviously that the path to human development depends upon some basic human rights--pretty much the ones the U.N. agreed to in its 1948 declaration. The second is that we have to nurture individuality.

On this second point, it's funny because it reminds me of a conversation I was having with a friend of mine from Russia the other day. We were talking about how much the stereotypes of the Soviet Union sprung from many different elements in Russian history and culture as well as the pecularities of Stalinism. What it reminded me of was the way the 1950s horror movie, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is so often talked about as a critique of communism when, in fact, director Don Siegel has said he saw it as a spoof of American mass culture, suggesting that one of the ironies of the Cold War was that the two empires mirrored each other's flaws, irrespective of ideology or economic system.

The point is, from my perspective, can't we imagine a world where we can do these two things at the same time--take care of everyone's needs and nurture our individuality? Honestly, don't they go hand in hand?