*grabs mic, steps on soapbox*

Do you think this country has changed much since our youth, or our parent’s youth, or our grandparent’s youth?

This is a hard question to answer, but the truth it masks needs uncovering.  As a country, as a people, have we changed?

On the surface we might appear to have done so, but underneath I think we are still the same.  Our change is measurable, but not significant.  We remain bent on destroying ourselves.  We still kill one another with alarming frequency and for foolish reasons, and we begin killing at a younger age.  We have much to celebrate, but we live in fear and doubt.  We are pessimistic about our own lives and the lives of our children.  We trust almost no one.

We are a people under siege, walled away from each other and the world, trying to find a safe path through the debris of hate and rage that collects around us.  We drive our cars like weapons.  We use our children and our friends as if their love and trust were expendable and meaningless.  We think of ourselves first and others second. 

We lie and cheat and steal in little ways, thinking it unimportant, justifying it by telling ourselves that others do it, so it doesn’t matter if we do it, too.  We have no patience with the mistakes of others.  We have no empathy for their despair.  We have no compassion for their misery. 

Those who roam the streets are not our concern; they are examples of failure and an embarrassment to us.  It is best to ignore them.  If they are homeless, it is their own fault.  They give us nothing but trouble.  If they die, at least they will provide us with more space to breathe.

I’m talking, but…it seems as if no one is listening.

*drops mic and steps off soapbox*