Mark Lilla said something interesting on the Waking up with Sam Harris podcast that struck a nerve for me. He said...

I so connect with this sentiment and this so aligns with what we see in our political, social, professional and personal lives. 

But then I also think... was "duty" ever really a part of any society? Was it ever really anything more than, for the lack of a better expression, the so-called, middle-class obsession with an artificial notion pushed down the throat of people by their choice of moral arbiter (religion, justice or natural law) to make their Sisyphean rock their "thing" to make their lives seem to have more purpose than would otherwise be observable?