Do you like your selfie?

We have so much—more than any civilization in the history of the world—yet we’re miserly not only with strangers but with each other. We talk now about God deserting us because we took him out of the public sphere, and I would agree that we took him out of the public sphere by disobeying his golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We are fouling our nest by declaring a free-for-all on the earth—God’s bequest to us. Mine! Frack! Drill, baby, drill! We put down animals who foul their nest because it’s a sign of madness yet we prop up our own mad King Lear who encourages the worst in us: greed, lies, fear, and anger. There is no more talk of human rights abuses when we negotiate with other countries. We no longer even pretend to walk the moral high ground. That card is not in our deck. Our national vocabulary no longer fosters common human dignity. Instead we talk of other countries being shit holes, immigrants from countries with non-Aryan populations being garbage, racist beings called “pretty good people” by King Lear. And the crowd roars. Wisdom from the Talmud: we don’t see things as THEY are, we see things as WE are. We voted for King Lear and his court. Us. Do you like who we are? Are you ready for your close-up? Smile for the birdie.