Sickness in Musings

There is a sickness in the American soul, and it is growing. Another school shooting , and we hear all the same tired arguments from the same tired politicians on both sides of the aisle. We’re so caught up in the gun issue- less guns, more guns, blah blah blah. The blather nauseates me. Is anyone asking the REAL questions? Why are mass shootings now the norm in our country? What is going on in the hearts and minds of our boys and men that so many of them feel such a mindless, murderous rage towards society that they make the decision to slaughter random, innocent people ? What is it that has gone so horribly wrong within their moral architecture?
No other Western nation has this problem- citizens killing citizens for no reason other than some sort of twisted nihilism. The isn’t “terrorism”- this isn’t unassimilated foreigners and this isn’t ISIS. It’s the kid next door taking his father’s shotgun and walking into his school and blowing people away. It’s the marginalized loner whose desperate search for recognition goes terribly awry.
What is it within our American society that is creating this tidal wave of mass murderers? Why do so many of our boys and men feel such a devastating alienation from life that they lose all moral clarity? And it’s not just these mass shootings. Look at the male suicide rate, the number of men who abdicate their parental and familial responsibilities, the rampant addiction epidemic, the men who can’t find some sort of meaning and purpose in their life and lash out and make scapegoats of the “other”- whether it’s immigrants or people with opposing political views.
There is a rot seeping thru the American soul, and it is spreading. We all need to take a long, deep look at ourselves and each other and be willing to ask the questions that need to be asked. Because we are in the throes of a spreading sickness. America is sick. And the longer we avoid that harsh truth, the harder it is going to be to stop this insidious societal cancer from eating us alive.

Last updated May 19, 2018