Four Reasons For Our Diminished Society
Diminish means to make something or someone less. Has the United States become less than it once was? There is a body of evidence that strongly suggests this country has serious issues. Some recent hard facts demonstrate the point.
One in ten Americans take some type of an antidepressant. Latest figures suggest that nearly 30,000,000 Americans are on Prozac. Even so, the number of suicides has not decreased. Suicide is a major, preventable public health problem. In 2007, it was the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for 34,598 deaths. (The period for which the latest figures are available.).
Bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2010, totaled 1,593,081, up 8.1 percent over total CY 2009 bankruptcy filings of 1,473,675, according to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Peter Sheras, a clinical psychologist and professor at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, made the following observation. Today’s teenagers are so wrapped up in virtual communication that they are not as equipped to handle inter-personal relationships. What does that say for the future? The implication is a culture that can no longer relate on a personal level.
Maybe that’s a major reason for the crime statistics showing approximately one-third of all victims of violent crime are teenagers, between the ages of 12 and 19. Today, the second-leading cause of death among young adults (second only to auto accidents) is homicide. Each year, more than 1,500 murder victims are children and teens.
The number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate of 9.1 percent has changed little. The labor force, at 153.2 million, was little changed in July.(US Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics Aug. 5 2011). This significantly impacts our productivity, consumer purchases, and over-all financial health as a nation.
And these hard facts are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Is it any wonder so many feel we as a nation have been diminished?
Norman W. Wilson, PhD
Dr. Wilson has forty years experience in education at the junior high school, graduate school, and community college. He is the author and co-author of textbooks in literary criticism and in the humanities. Wilson has written over 200 articles published on the internet, authored Shamanism What It’s All About, and two speculative novels: The Shaman’s Quest, and The Shaman’s Transformation.