Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
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Isaiah 5:20
I grew up during the 1960s, a time of unprecedented turmoil. I've observed a great deal of strife since then, so it takes a significant amount of upheaval to capture my attention. But, this time, I am concerned for my country.
Although the current tumult in our nation engulfed us with shocking speed, none of us should be surprised that such chaos is occurring. All of my life, I have watched as our moral underpinnings have been chipped away to the point of perilous fragility. When societal foundations become so damaged, inevitable collapse is only a matter of time.
I was a child when
prayer was forbidden in public schools. That was a giant step towards the erosion of religious influence in our culture. Until the past half century, religion was one of our country's strongest pillars. In the mid-1960s, the "
War on Poverty" exploded the growth of the socialized state. The numerous social programs, including welfare payments, led to increased dependence upon the government and less reliance upon family, especially within lower income households. Strong and stable families headed by a father and a mother, a second pillar of American life, over time became less commonplace.
The Vietnam War brought tremendous amounts of discord into American life. It's impossible to encapsulate in a few words the vast and lingering ramifications of Vietnam. Suffice to say that the media and the citizenry both became permanently more skeptical of government officials and their decisions. The military was viewed in a more questioning manner, also. Two more revered pillars, our government and our military, wounded by the enduring tragedy of Vietnam.
Beginning with the Vietnam war protests, colleges began their transition from halls of learning to hotbeds of activism. Classes in such over-arching subjects as Western civilization, American history, Civics, and English were purged from lists of required courses, replaced by various isolating studies in identity politics. America has been fractured into warring tribes by an academic elite with a misguided agenda that purposefully separated us. The national motto "
E Pluribus Unum" has devolved into a quaint memory. We are no longer one people from many; we are many people, divided amongst ourselves. The educational system, long a stalwart pillar of a united America, has become a primary source of our differences.
The chipping away at our unitive values has continued through the decades with raging debates on social and ethical issues. The sexual revolution, civil rights, abortion, the war on terror, illegal immigration, gay marriage, transgender identity, and other seething topics, all tore at the time-honored fabric of American civility in debate. Truths and traditions were continuously challenged and ruthlessly overturned. Terrible things were said by people on all sides of every debate. In the past few years, it seems our country has lost the ability to speak to one other; citizens are screaming past each other instead.
We have now reached a critical point where the boiling stew of social ills and grievances spills over onto the national stovetop and makes a dreadful mess. A mess can be cleaned up, of course, but only if one has the tools to do so. My fear is that, over the decades of dissension and the destruction of our foundational principles and our institutions, we have lost the ability to make things right. We appear to have lost our moorings. Too many of us no longer recognize right from wrong. We have allowed ourselves to become untethered from the home base of our history. In today's bleeding and fragmented America, Lincoln's "
House Divided" speech is especially relevant:
"I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”
My deepest fear is that we will become "all the other."
Like so many Californians, I'm working from home most weekdays. At the workday's end I usually take a long walk, just to get out of the four walls and to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. I travel various routes in my longtime neighborhood. Lately I've noticed many more American flags flying from individual homes.
I thought seeing more flags on display was my imagination, given the current strife within our country. But today I turned down a small side street I haven't walked on for many months. What I saw stopped me in my tracks and warmed my heart. In the space of one short block, on both sides of the street, I counted fourteen American flags flying proudly in the late afternoon sun. Most rode high on standing flagpoles; some hung on shorter poles, next to front doors or over garages. It was such an uplifting sight that I felt breathless for a moment.
