Sidebar: A Celebration of Humanity
by Betsy Fisher
My husband Lyle handed me a copy of The Ayn Rand Reader in 2002.
The essays were searing.The clarity and logic of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism cut through contradictions and dissatisfaction in a way that psychotherapy could not and did not. A copy of Atlas Shrugged had adorned my parents’ book shelves, but I read the novels only after exposure to Objectivist metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics had provided a very necessary and new way to grasp reality.
As a mother, Objectivism grounds me in teaching and trying to model the essentials: that our daughters’ lives are their own and that they can achieve happiness through the exercise of virtues identified by Rand. As a business owner, I enjoy being in the gut of capitalist enterprise 24/7. Dressing our customers provides enormous satisfaction: there’s such power in women presenting themselves well, and such pleasure in helping them do it. Prideful? You bet!
—Betsy Fisher