We Built This Shitty
If we believe in America, we have to know that all sides of America are America too. That means America is nauseous right now. Maybe the fact that both sides see each other as other is the biggest sickness we as a national entity have.
Wanna Try a Radical Experiment?
There once was a boy. He was a boy born of privilege but also of extremely poor health. A rich, sickly boy. Temporarily blinded as a child, a stomach condition that left him in pain most days, back pains that would persist his entire life. It being the late 1800’s, the medical profession was less than helpful.
As he grew older, his health got worse and he began to struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide. Because his father was wealthy and had influence, he was enrolled into Harvard Medical College. Willing to try anything rather than live as a suicidal invalid, he signed up for an anthropological expedition to the Amazon rainforest. He contracted small pox in the jungle and nearly died.
The young man managed to return home to a disappointed father, nearly 30 years old, still unemployed, a failure at everything he had ever attempted, with a body that betrayed him and wasn’t likely to ever get better. Despite every advantage and opportunity he had been given in life, he had failed them all. The only constants in his life seemed to be suffering and disappointment. The man fell into a deep depression and planned to take his own life.
But first he decided to try one last thing before biting on a pistol.
Anxiety is the thing that’s ripped our country apart. It has divided us, caused us to fear and hate those who think and live differently than us, and even caused us to hate those who only slightly disagree with us. It has led to panic and overreaction. And I worry that American Anxiety is only going to exacerbate the social and political divide in this country to the point that there is no coming back.