Asabiyah
It’s been claimed that the primary responsibility of every human is to perpetuate Humanity. Therefore, every pair of humans that does not produce and rear two offspring, or at least rear surplus offspring produced by others, is being irresponsible at the expense of the species.
Every person who fails to rear offspring as a young or middle-aged adult strains the next generation’s economy, as the Social Security and other welfare he’ll require in his declining years must then fall as an additional burden on the shoulders of some next-generation citizen already scheduled to support two parents of his own. This, according to some, is selfish, unethical, and wrong.
On a smaller scale, any member of a culture has a duty to preserve that culture. If society grows too diverse, it fails to hold morals from generation to generation or from region to region, and it collapses from a lack of “asabiyah”, or cultural cohesion. So too is it wrong to spend one’s life doing “what you love” rather than what is best for the country, for this fosters an attitude of zero responsibility to others and the destructive notion that your personal happiness is worth more than the welfare of the nation to which you owe allegiance.
The Bible, particularly the Old Testament, contains multiple examples of this line of thinking - with good reason. A small population needs draconian measures to survive the hostile conditions of Biblical times. The prohibitions against male masturbation and homosexuality (because men only have so much sperm, and once you’re empty you can’t propagate the tribe), the directive to be fruitful and multiply…these make sense in the context of a culture struggling to survive. At the metalevel, the practices of reading prayers at mealtime (because eating is an inescapable activity) and requiring ordinary citizens to administer some criminal punishments keeps those laws in the forefront of society’s mind.
So…
Are you really going to destroy America if you design iPhone games for a living rather than write encryption software for the DoD or assemble washing machines for Maytag? Are you bankrupting the country if you spend your life with a same-sex partner? Will that lifestyle turn your neighbor’s kids into petty thieves by teaching them that, well, since other people don’t have to follow rules when they don’t want to, the kids shouldn’t either? Is it a mental health mandate or a prima donna luxury to follow your heartfelt aspirations? Do you do with your life what you feel compelled to do at the core of your being (and if that practice won’t sustain you, I guess you’re moving into your friends’ basement commune and living off food stamps)? Or is art the pretty stuff you get to do with the hours you have left after you’ve dug the ditches what need digging?
Wait. Never mind. This grade-school-level problem was answered years ago.