Lack of Undertanding

America is and has been on the wrong path for over 100 years.  We have been lost in a world of shallow joys that are based upon an industrialized world filled with cheap goods.  Americans believe that the ability to fill their lives with consumer goods represents the peak of civilization.  While it is true that other countries are as easily seduced by the “magic” of technology, and the proliferation of gadgets and distractions, Americans seem more easily drawn into a world where who we are is defined more by the things we own than by our character.  A person is automatically considered good if he has money rather than automatically assumed to be a wanker.  We, me included, are impressed with the trinkets and ignore the actual person.  The bore worth a $10 million is listened to and admired while the incredibly knowledgeable, humorous school teacher is ignored.  We are a nation eager to be impressed by money and slow to be impressed by beauty, knowledge, courage, or art.  Our death as a country will be tied to our inability to recognize what is truly of worth in life, what truly represents a life well lived.