ReardenSteel

I myself once felt similar sentiments, David. I solved it by going back and reading more Rand. I discovered her at a young age, reading Anthem at 12 years old under the tutelage of my long-time Objectivist father. It wasn't until high school and particularly college that I was fully capable of reading and internalizing her other works. I read The Fountainhead when I was 18 and Atlas shortly after ... For the next 3 or 4 years, I couldn't possibly see how I could be happy in a world filled with so much cowardice, bullshit, "Toohey's". I wanted desperately to know a Rearden, a Galt, a Roark, a Dagny (besides my father). I'm now 22 and still occasionally get blue about the state of the world. However, I've figured out that while Rand's work, particularly her fiction, portray a world terribly worthy of longing for, it is a world which in reality does not exist (and IMHO, probably never will). Instead, it's up to those of us who subscribe to her philosophy to make that world for ourselves. That is, after all, the crowning achievement of her heroes and heroines. They stand tall in the face of everything that is contrary to their values. So, go back and read her, and find the Rearden in yourself. One of my favorite quotes: "Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values" -AR