SICKNESS IN AMERICA! Sickness is alive and well in America. Our society is very sick and few of us fully realize the origin, extent, severity, or cause of this ailment. The catalyst of this infirmity has been a moral decline mixed into our society enabled and facilitated by a High-Tech, Tele- Communications diseminated to population that nutures social and moral relativism (a belief that man can create his own moral and ethics system). Proof of our moral decline is everywhere. Drug, alcohol and substance abuse abound, a high crime rate and satanic cults gain new adherents nightly. These devilish dynamics are fueling emotional problems that have become so prevalent that almost every family has been affected by some form of emotional stress or disturbance. Like wildfire these emotional disturbances have swept across america, spread by High-Tech means thus accel- erating our moral decline. Two recent examples of social chaos and disturbance were the Summer-Fall 1991 confirmation hearing of Judge Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court and the tragic massacre of 22 customers at the Luby's Cafeteria located in Killeen, Texas by George Hennard on October 16, 1991. The first example, the confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas was opposed by feminist groups. Some of the members of these groups are driven by resentment and hatred, feeling that men are the cause of america's problems. These feelings manifest in emotions so intense that they will do anything to destroy anyone they believe to be against women. Thus allegations made by Anita Hill about sexual harassment by Judge Thomas rightfully so or not were welcomed and vigorously prosecuted by womens groups. This was an example of destructive emotions being directed against perceived enemies to gain certain goals and secure more power for women. Usually the leadership of these feminist groups benefit far more than the rank and file membership as a result these political struggles. The second example was the tragic massacre in Killeen, Texas. The killer George Hennard was a 35 year old man whose parents had divorced approximately 8-9 years earlier. Letters that he had written to neighborhood women acquaintances several months before the massacre, revealed the fact that Hennard harbored ill feeling toward the opposite sex. He seem to be a man mad at the world externalizing his troubles and blaming everyone but himself. His madness resulted in his crashing through a plate glass window of Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas with his pickup truck, dis- mounting and shooting to death 22 persons and injuring scores of others. These two examples are of the manifestation of social and moral relativism for when morals and ethics can be blown around by man's mind because of whimsical change than up is down and east is west and nothing makes sense. So too do we wander aimlessly directionless blaming others for our problems instead of looking to ourselves for the cause and the solution to our problems. The first example was one of women blaming, resenting and hating men. While the second example was one of a man seeming to hate and resent women. Both examples illustrate the polarization of the sexes that in my opinion has worsened over the last 35 years. During this period America has experienced a moral de- cline. This clearly marked decline during the last 35 years was highlighted by the disintegration of the natural family unit. Emerging from this family disintegration have come unhappy chil- dren ill-reponsive to learning and open to influence from situa- tion comedies, like, akin to and re-enforced by the situational ethics our children learn in public schools. In addition out of these broken marriages has come bitterness, resentfullness, and sometimes hate filled divorcees. This bunch of traumatized and unhappy individuals are causing and spreading havoc, darkness and sadness wherever they go. So with this continueing spread of this immoral cancer how are we as a nation to revive our society? The revival of our country must come through a renewing of good moral spirit within our families. All societies are replenished through the formation of new families, but today because of an exceedingly large pool of sick and traumatized individuals this sea of sickness is generating a dynamism of bad families being formed. So what are the dynamics of this vicious cycle and what kind of families are being created? When morally broken and sick individuals form families the result are sick immoral families. When strong and well individuals form families then springs hope that our society, our world may become a better place by partici- pation in the creation of goodness through the formation and nuturing of good moral families. In America today a greater number of immoral families are being formed by negative dynamics and driven by High-Tech materialism then in the past creating a culture in chaos. On the other hand cultures not experiencing chaos are cultures that have common, belief systems, goals, mores when confluencing together direct the society. These cultural commonalities propel and guide a society in a good, orderly and right way. In America we have no real culture but instead have only an economic system that has assumed a piranha like feeding frenzy while our controllers pour dribble into our minds which does nothing but promote more and more negative dynamics, manifesting in a greater number of americans becoming purely materialistical- ly driven animals, and becoming captives of their environment more so than they could have ever imagined. Truely High-Tech Tele-Communications has made us passive creatures having insta- tiable appetites with little easing of our hungry pains in sight. What remedies and solutions exist that can alleviate our troubles and somehow break us out of these negative dynamics? There are some hopeful trends. Religions seem to be undergoing a revival, drug addition is somewhat moderating and Alcoholic Anonymous Groups through-out the country are experiencing greater and greater success. Private school enrollment has been steadily increasing, resulting in at least some private and all church schools teaching morals while our public schools continue to perpetuate social and moral relativism (do your own thing philos- ophy). More than hope alone, we must start taking steps to bring about a better society. The following are suggestions for improving our minds, mending our hearts and healing our souls: 1. Voucher System - providing a choice of schools either public or private 2. Alternate news media - we must support and defend all alter- native means to inform and educate the public to truth 3. Forgiveness - we must see ourselves and others as we are, forgiving ourselves and others, while giving up our resent- ment and hatred for ourselves and others 4. Natural Family unit - must be viewed as the acid test for good morality while re-uniting and reconciling lost indivi- duals to truth and goodness setting out the family as the model of good morals and our awareness must be heightened about the origin of our coming into being through the natu- ral family unit These basic remedies will take time to become effective. So there are no quick fixes to re-ordering and re-moralizing a society. For meaningful progress to be achieved we must confront our own inadequacies and short-comings so that the conquering of one-self is to be a far greater and meaningful goal than in conquering others. Man is small and petty at times, consquently will man ever learn to turn his back on physical security and embrace HIS spirit that is forever! George Greenville Butler