Is America Coming Apart?

Across the several decades of my life here in the U.S., I have experienced multiple times of social and cultural disturbances. There was the heat of my World War II parent’s generation over the disruptions of the 1960’s. There was the horrific assassination of President Kennedy, followed by the fear and anger over the war in Vietnam. There was the Nixon debacle and it all created generational tensions. Then there was the rise of the music revolution with the Beatles and the British music invasion. And the themes of protest threaded through it all. I know many were unsure if the country would survive it all intact. Yet we did. But now there are new distressing tensions that are deep and seismic. Across the population many are again questioning whether we can survive intact. Because the glue is coming apart. And perhaps the main reason is the meteoric rise of our social media phenomenon. We are splintered and disconnected and in an increasingly dangerous space and a society. Ninety six percent of the population is on the internet and many, if not most are also on social media! The Surgeon General has shouted a warning about our isolation and loneliness. He didn’t mince words saying it is ‘killing us.’ So the question arises again. Can we come through this? Can we find our way forward to a new period of social cohesion? Whether you are someone who prays or not, it might be a good time since we are living in the foxhole.