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March 24, 2005
Where have all the flowers gone
This week has been one in which I've greatly pondered the state of our culture and society as Americans.
What's happened to us?
We are a society that has learned to extend our physical lives by years. In some cases, decades. Yet for all our concentration on the physical, we seem to have completely lost sight of caring for the emotional and spiritual.
Religion in the US seems to have morphed, at least in part, from caring for the poor and dealing in compassion to an extension of political bodies and government entities. Or as someone wrote to me in email..the focus for religion is now on the corporeal body.
Where is the feeding of the soul? Where is the nourishment for the mind and the spirit?
I'm not intending this to be a slam on religion. I think though that there is a serious lack of examination by those in religious circles about their reasons for existing. And our society at large appears to need a high level navel gazing exercise here as well.
This week's scrutiny of the Terri Schiavo case is a reminder of how far medicine has advanced. But it's also a reminder of how eroded compassion, common sense and basic respect for individual choice have become.
We didn't used to have feeding tubes to keep us alive when our brains stopped functioning properly. I was reminded today that we used to be hooked up to a morphine drip that would end the pain and even hasten the death of those we loved. No longer.
We now (except in Oregon), force the terminally ill in excruciating pain to stay alive at all costs. Except for the costs of Medicaid and Medicare...that we'll slash.
We didn't used to have school shootings, either. Somehow we're able to fix the broken bodies of our youth. But their broken spirits, in many cases, remain shattered. Our society has deemphasized nurturing children in school and at home. Now we focus on testing and academics and responsibilities.
At one time in this nation we felt it was important to provide a safety net for our elderly and our sick. The top priority now is tax cuts and slashing spending.
We used to be a nation of laws. Now in certain quarters we have those who give lip service to law while advocating for incarceration without probable cause and no access to attornies. Or worse, for torture.
We are a nation in a state of serious moral decline. And many who claim to be the spiritual, political and governmental leaders are sending us down this path.
Posted by Carla at March 24, 2005 04:05 PM