Other than a few courses I took in college (primarily to raise a GPA being torpedoed by a math-heavy Pre-Med curriculum; as an aside, what physics has to do with medicine I have yet to discover), I am fairly ignorant about the various schools of philosophical thought. I vaguely recall some of major doctrines but, for the most part, I thought they were obscure, piffling, overly complicated and, frankly, more than a little mental masturbation. The one idea that did resonate with me, probably because it matched my own world view, was existentialism. For me, it made sense. It was centered on the individual and didn’t depend on spirits, deities, cosmic forces, the weather, the humanity of others or anything else outside the person, themselves. For a died-in-the-wool individualist, existentialism fit. It made sense. In a world of excuses and blame, existentialism denied both.

Clearly, it is not a widely popular school of thought, particularly today. In a nation where no one is to blame and everyone has excuses for failure, bad decisions, Acts of Providence or personal shortcomings, to embrace the phrase "no excuses!" is completely alien. After all, if we are denied the shifting of responsibility to bad karma, solar flares, lineage, parents, our horoscope or just "bad breaks", how can we look at ourselves in the mirror when we fall on our faces? How can we have any self-respect when we file bankruptcy or get fired? Most importantly, what would we have to complain about if there were no one to blame?

Existentialism declares that every one of us, as an individual, is responsible. We, all by our lonesome, are responsible for what we do, responsible for who we are, responsible for the way we face and deal with the world, and responsible, ultimately, for the way the world treats us. Those are some mighty sinewy bites to swallow for most but, for me, they seem to be irrefutably true. I (as have you if you would admit it to yourself) have heard and read too many stories of ordinary men and women who, by personal choice, overcame immense and daunting difficulties to succeed to not believe this philosophy is true. As the old saying goes, there is nothing that the mind of man can conceive and believe that cannot be achieved. If there is one thing I would needlepoint on a pillow (if only I could needlepoint) it is these words.

Now, when I say that whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe can be accomplished, I limit that to the individual. The mind of man can (and has) conceived of many things that can never be. Some minds have conceived of a world without fear, hunger, acne, poverty, hatred, racism, ugly people, nationalism, war, male pattern baldness, plagues, natural disasters or crib death. Of course, these fantasies are best left to the minds of Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Asimov, Arthur Clarke, Gene Roddenberry and the other great science fiction authors. For their fertile minds go where no man has gone before and, truly, where no man can go in reality. It is one thing to imagine such things and quite another to actually believe that they can exist. One activity is entertaining and imaginative and the other potentially dangerous.

What I mean to say is simply this: while the landscape has changed a great deal in America and the maxim is less true today than in years past, I still sincerely believe that anyone in this country can still accomplish remarkable things if they believe in their vision strongly enough and are willing to make the sacrifices required to reach their dream. Now, can a quadruple amputee ever win a gold medal in the Olympics’ gymnastics competition? Probably not. Can an infant afflicted with cerebral palsy overcome his disability and swim the English Channel? Unlikely. Can a child born anencepahlic become an astronaut? Improbable. Can a child born to a single mother with HIV in the worse ghetto of east Los Angeles grow up to be president of Harvard University? Abso-friggin-lutely.

I would posit that in the absence of catastrophic physical or mental disabilities, the circumstances of one’s childhood and adolescence can, in an individual with a strong enough vision and an unshakeable belief in accomplishing their dream, always be overcome. Maybe I am too much of an existentialist. Nevertheless, that is my belief. It is my mantra that the human spirit is unconquerable by circumstances of the physical world.

As this is one side of my opinion, there is a somewhat harsher "flip-side" of the same doctrine: with the aforementioned exceptions (profound organic limitations), there are absolutely no excuses for failing at life, itself. None, zero, zilch, nada. I realize these are heretical utterances - particularly, when coming from a white, middle-class, white collar professional - but I will put them out there and take whatever flack might come flying back. I believe it, I said it and I stand by it. With all the opportunities available to Americans of all races and socioeconomic status, the only reason why someone does not progress to achieve whatever might be their vision of "success" is, when all is said and done, a personal lack of effort, commitment and sacrifice. In brief, if you fail at life in this nation, you can find your enemy in your mirror. If you are a washout, blame no one but yourself, Bunky.

But, if it is any consolation to your self esteem, there are others who can at least join you on the loser’s stand and accept parts of your "Gold Medal" for failure. For example, let’s have the culture you live in take a bow and wave to the crowd. We live in a society today where scapegoating is an art form and a national pastime, in brief, our favorite team sport. Whether we are watching Court TV, Oprah or Dr. Phil, the endless parade of victims tearfully proclaim that their calamity is "not their fault". Instead, we are expected to believe that these unfortunates are "abandoned by society" or "mislead by government" or "victims of circumstances" or were preyed on by "peer pressure" or "unbearable expectations to excel" or, when all other excuses fail, "voices in their head told them to do it". There is no need for "no fault insurance" in American culture - there is always someone who can be expected to pick up the tab.

In the never-ending celebration of victimhood, how refreshing - and extremely unlikely - it would be to have, say Barry Bonds, stand up at his retirement press conference and say something like:

"Yeah, I cheated. I took steroids for years. I knew I could get away with it and the fans were too stupid to care. You reporters, who should know better, were too worried that you might be accused of racism to call me out on it. So, what did I have to lose? The team owners didn’t give a damn since they were making money from me putting butts in the seats when I played in their parks. Everyone got paid, so, damn right I did it and everyone looked the other way. No one made me do it. I did it for the money, Dog. I can retire a gazillionairre and I don’t give a shit if you put an asterisk beside my records or refuse to vote me into the Hall of Fame. The record books or the Hall of Fame don’t pay my bills! I got mine now screw off and go write some sanctimonious editorial about "the integrity of baseball". Yo, Homie, strike up "I Did It My Way" and call for my limo. I am out of here, suckers!"

If Bonds - or anyone who ever got caught - had the cajones to stand up and tell the truth, personally, I would stand up and cheer my butt off. How refreshing it would be! More importantly, what a message it would send to the spineless American public to hear someone take to his feet and say the bravest, simplest words yet to be spoken: "Hey, my bad!" Alas, now I am the one writing science fiction. But, just like dreaming of unicorns, sorcerers, witches, hobbitts, faithful spouses or honest politicians, we can always imagine wondrous things even if we know they are quite unlikely to ever exist in reality.

Those who fail to visualize their own success or do not make the effort or the sacrifice to become a contributing member of society, can always assume the defense that it is not their fault. It’s clearly the easiest thing to do. Besides, its what losers see and hear, day in and day out. They can delude themselves and (most of) society into believing that they are where they are in life solely because of discrimination, bad schools, lack of parental support, inadequate home stability, premature weaning, neighborhood violence and drugs, peer pressure, absence of role models, blah blah blah. These sort of rationalizations may allow them to sleep at night but they do nothing to move the un-achiever out of his predicament. However, if he chooses the easy path of blaming circumstance outside himself, he will never - ever - break the chains of bondage that excuses, finger-pointing and scapegoating amount to.

So, even if I walk alone in existentialism, I will continue to hold high the belief that the human animal’s ability to overcome barriers and handicaps is limited only by that individuals desire to do so. I speak not from a "silver-spooned" upbringing but from the point of view of one who has had to jump through more than a few hoops, myself. They need not be enumerated here. Suffice it to say that, given the circumstances, I had absolutely no right to believe I could have the life I have now and most would have bet heavily against my achieving much of anything. But, deep down inside, I believed differently. And, despite the setbacks, disappointments and sadnesses of my life, I have done alright and, as if anything would change otherwise, I have not a single complaint. I say this not to toot my horn or hoist celebratory banners but to point out that no matter where you start, great things can be achieved when you sufficiently trust in your dreams and are willing to give your all to reach them. Ordinary people - in whose ranks I proudly count myself - can achieve extraordinary things when the passion for a vision refuses to be deterred by the giant cow piles the world will inevitably drop on your head.

That’s my existentialism. That is life as I see it. It’s all a matter of outlook and perspective. But, then again, that is just one average guy’s opinion.