After reading Roosevelt's idealistic speech, I become confused by the question "Do individual pursuit compete against collective pursuit?" because Roosevelt argues that individualism should be maintained and kept in check. From a Christian perspective, and perhaps from egocentric Western Cultural perspective, people are usually inclined to be selfish. Consequently, from Roosevelt's view, there exist a tension between wanting to affirm individualism and wanting to contribute to society (e.g. building up one's country). There exist also this notion that if one does not know how to love oneself, than he/she will not know how to love others (i.e. help or contribute to others' welfare). Thus, a completely individualistic person could positively impact society without have a collective mindset. However, there still remains the problem that sometimes couragous (i.e. whole hearted love for self) do not treat others as they would treat self.