The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.
I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates.
America traditionally represents the greatest possibility of someone's going from nothing to something. Why? In theory if not practice the government stays out of the way and lets individuals take risks and reap rewards or accept the consequences of failure. We call this capitalism - or at least we used to.