With its steadfast assertion of the duty of every human being to live to the absolute fullness of her capacities, Ayn Rand's Fountainhead has encouraged countless people to maximally invest themselves in the story of their own existence.  Rand calls it "the virtue of selfishness," not selfishness in the sense of keeping one's toys from another, but selfishness that focuses foremost on developing oneself to her most complete.
     From this comes a famous idea, best summed up as, "I'll die for you but I won't live for you."  On the face of it, this seems a worthy way to view one's relationship with one's fellow human beings:  be ready to sacrifice oneself for others, but understand that everyone must live her own life, and that to the fullest.
     As far as we know, Rand went to her grave not believing in God.  Ironically, however, this thought provides an interesting twist to the Christian message.  Through Jesus, God, Christianity tells us, died for humanity's sins, taking on himself the penalty of humanity's guilt and wrongdoing so that he might grant people new life.  But in order to do that, God had to first live as a human being, to live as every human lives.  He had to live before he could die.
     Although we should be willing to die for our loved ones, and although we should live fully aware of each person's responsibility to be herself, we should also strive to live for each other, for the good of the humanity community, the welfare of the planet, its past, its present, its future.  Like God, we should live--and die--for the greatness (despite all our faults, flaws, and sin, but that's the point) of who we, beings with eternal purpose and meaning, are.
     We're in this together.