Nothing Seems Normal Anymore

Nothing Seems Normal Anymore

Did you ever shut off the TV or put down the newspaper and ask yourself, what is going on in our world today? Is it actually better to not read the newspaper or watch TV and maintain your sanity? Nothing seems to make sense any more.

People, even in the prosperous United States, go hungry every day and yet one man gets a contract for $212 million dollars to pitch a baseball for a few years. Our government owes over $18 trillion dollars and yet we propose annual budgets with billion dollar deficits that keep adding to the trillions we owe.

I used to like to travel but now I have more places on my list to not travel to than places to travel. Who in their right mind would go to Africa now? There are so many countries full of internal strife and dissension that it is scary. Terrorism seems to be everywhere. Names like Boko Haram appear in our headlines. “Boko Haram insurgents attack in northeast Nigeria. At least eight people dead.” This surely doesn’t make one feel like booking a trip to Nigeria. So many people have died and so many wars in the Middle East seem to be ongoing that there is no end in sight to the death and carnage. Hezbollah, Hamas and Fatah appear in the morning news like ads for cornflakes. It would appear that there will never be peace between the Jews and the Palestinians. In a prior article, I have noted that with the high birth rate of the Palestinian people, the numbers of Palestinians will surpass the Jewish population within a very short time. Talk about a ticking time bomb. Even Paris, a city I visited just a few years ago, has erupted in violence. “Three terrorists murder 12 people in a massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.” A few years ago no one seemed to have heard about a group called ISIS. Now their brutal activities like the beheading of children, mothers, fathers, Christians, and hostages make the daily news.

In the United States, our violent crime and culture are exposed for all to see. From mothers setting their babies on fire and leaving them in the middle of the road to babies found in dumpsters. Family murder/suicides are also on the rise. Recently, in a town in New Mexico, a 3 year old shot and wounded his father and pregnant mother with a 9 mm handgun. Carjacking, home invasions, armed robberies all seem to make our news. So many crimes making little or no sense.

How about an unstable society. Men wanting to “marry” men; women “marrying” women. Now we have men undergoing sex changes to “become” women. Today, the length of an average marriage in the United States is only eight years. Attendance in New York City’s Catholic churches has tanked. The New York Times reports only 12% of the archdiocese’s 2.8 million members regularly attend mass. The story repeats itself all over the country.

Nothing seems normal anymore. I guess a lot depends on your definition of “normal.” Years ago families consisted of a mother and father and their children. They usually ate together as a family most of the week. Your home was reasonably safe and few people had guns. Your car was safe parked on the street and “road rage” was rare.

Today, our government spends between $20 and $25 billion dollars a year on counter-narcotics efforts to curtail a drug market that exceeds over $500 billion dollars annually and that is a rough estimate. Our definition of a family has changed being replaced by new family definitions such as a same-sex family or an extended family. Current estimates of guns in the United States are in the range of 300 million firearms. Keeping in mind that our population of men, women, and children is roughly 312 million persons, we are close to one gun for every person in the United States!

Where are we heading? My prediction is scary unless things change. We have had a moral breakdown in the United States. Life is not respected any longer and crime will continue to rise especially with the influx of drugs. Marriage is temporary and there are no restrictions on sex. Abortion is the final stage of birth control and stealing is fine unless you get caught. Taking responsibility for one’s actions is gone. I think the old definition that said “If it feels good, do it” says it all.

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Written by
Donald Wittmer