“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29: 18, KJV~
“People speak with incredible contempt about–depending on their views–the rich, the poor, the educated, the foreign-born, the president, or the entire US government. It’s a level of contempt that is usually reserved for enemies in wartime, except that it’s applied to our fellow citizens. Unlike criticism, contempt is particularly toxic because it assumes a moral superiority in the speaker. . . . People who speak with contempt for one another will probably not remain united long.” (Sebastian Junger 126)
We are a divided people–a people in many ways at war with each other. Sebastian Junger examines the reasons in Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging. I picked the book up because it was the common read one fall on the campus where I taught freshman composition. All incoming freshmen receive a copy of the chosen book each year.
I hadn’t participated in the common read before and never again did. Other books didn’t fit with my course plan. I refused even to bring one home to investigate beyond the cover, which featured a naked woman. (Really!?)
At times, students indicated great relief that I wasn’t making them read the books.
This one was different.
When I read the description of Junger’s book, I couldn’t wait to get ahold of it. It deals substantively with the division of our society and with PTSD–Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Junger explores why PTSD is a larger problem for us today even with a military much smaller than those of the World War II, Korea, and Vietnam eras.
The book fit well into class discussions that frequently included seasoned vets, some who confided in me that they suffered from PTSD because of their combat experiences.
When the number of vets in the room dropped, I quit using the book. Now I realize it might have been better for me to have kept it.
Now retired from the college classroom, I picked the book off my shelf this summer with an eye toward making it available for one of my high school students (with parental approval) to select for an Advanced Placement rhetoric project this year.
None of the students in my high school class will have experienced combat. Some of them have acquired, or know someone who has, PTSD.
All of us witness daily the division our society inhabits.
The compelling details of Junger’s text include discussion of factors we don’t often consider–our degree of comfort, our freedom from threat, and our lack of a shared experience. Those factors alienate us from each other.
I remember my mother telling me what it was like during World War II. Everyone knew the country was at war. Everyone’s life changed because we were at war. Everyone sacrificed.
Nearly everyone wanted to be part of the war effort–to contribute something, volunteering, donating a bicycle tire, buying a war bond.
Throughout the first two decades of the new century, most of America did not felt the pinch of war in the least. We did without nothing. Most of our lives didn’t changed–except for our awareness and fear of terrorism. We made an effort when soldiers returned, unlike the one those returning from Viet Nam sometimes suffered, that of public abuse.
But even though we are no longer officially at war, our society lives out no “shared public meaning.”
“Such public meaning is probably not generated by the kinds of formulaic phrases such as “Thank you for your service,” that many Americans now feel compelled to offer soldiers and vets [and sometimes police and firefighters]. . . . If anything, these token acts only deepen the chasm between the military and civilian populations by highlighting the fact that some people serve their country but the vast majority don’t” (97).
Veterans from our Middle East wars have settled back into life in the US. Many still deal with PTSD. Many are homeless. They seem to have vanished into the crowd.
But PTSD and its affects don’t just hit combat veterans. I know some of my students deal with situations, past and current, that cause them to feel divided from others.
Even without our young men and women going off to war, we are a divided country suffering from a lack of vision.
Junger presents our momentary unity after 9/11, but that cohesiveness was so short lived because of our lack of a common experience, a common vision. Instead Junger describes a moral superiority that replaced the unity of a nation attacked.
Now we have to ask ourselves: What kind of attack will unify us in a long lasting, significant way?
And is there no other way?
Note: Some Christians will find Junger’s continual assumption of evolution to be off-putting. But it’s not a big leap for readers of faith for readers to see sin as a contributing factor in today’s troubled society. There is rare inappropriate language in the book.
Amen to this. PTSD is incredibly hard for our veterans. And it affects so many others, also… victims of sexual and physical assault, children who have witnessed or endured terrible ordeals, etc. God shines His glorious light into this darkness. May we all help each other.
May we, indeed, Jessica. Thanks and God bless!
Thank you for providing thought provoking messages. God bless you.
May He bless you too. Thanks, Melissa. God bless!
It has grieved me for a while to see how divided we are as a nation and listen to political leaders increase the division in the rhetoric. I think of the biblical words, a house divided against itself cannot stand. I pray for a return to God.
I pray for such a return also, Debbie. Thanks and God bless!
Now we have to ask ourselves: What kind of attack will unify us in a long lasting, significant way? How bad will it have to be? How will we react? Thank you for posing questions that cause us to think, Nancy.
Thanks for reading and commenting with insight, Melinda. God bless!
Debbie (above) mentions Matthew 12:25 about a house divided not being able to stand. We have so many voices crying out against this group and that group. Where are the voices bringing us together, reminding us of what we have in common, and making the point that it is only together we’ll be able to stand. I suppose it will have to start with us. Lord, help us be unifiers wherever we go!
May we be those voices, indeed. Thank you, Nancy, and God bless!
Very interesting post Nancy. I have so many thoughts running around in my head. I agree with the theory but don’t want another war just to unify us. I think we, the church, need to set the example by truly loving all our neighbors like Jesus did. Thanks for making me think.
I don’t want another war either. May we in the Church be the example you speak of. Thanks, Yvonne, and God bless!
If I’m honest, I’m a little torn by the use of “PTSD” today. Granted, I’m a senior-aged veteran, and while many of us experienced some symptoms, it wasn’t a crutch or a diagnosis we could use to blame our bad behavior on. Yes, there are traumatic events that happen outside the war zone that can leave scars and suppressed emotions that need to be dealt with. I suggest that many are dealt with more soundly with prayer than with “Practice” (as in medical). Just one old vet’s opinion ma’am. Doesn’t make me more right, just right also. So enjoyed the post; and I could not agree more with how fractured and combative we as a society have become.
I agree also, JD. My dad didn’t know combat in WWII. But we knew some vets who treated themselves with alcohol.
Much changed between Korea and Vietnam, especially what society thought of the wars. And these younger vets grew up differently. Their parents often discouraged them from “playing war” as I remember my brother doing.
Many factors play into what we have today. Thanks and God bless!
A divided people without a shared vision, multitudes of those who experience PTSD, it seems we are at war with each other and sometimes at war within ourselves. Lord, help us!
Amen, Karen. Lord, please help us. Thanks and God bless!
Your message is insightful and informative, Nancy. We need the reminder to be kind and respectful. We also need to affirm the sacrifices made by our military, law enforcement, and those who serve on a daily basis to protect and care for us. Thank you.
Thanks, Katherine. And perhaps we need to provide the opportunity for them to fellowship with each other effectively. We don’t know what’s happened to them. They do.
Thanks again and God bless!
PTSD is getting much better understanding these days, thankfully. I am pretty sure it’s always been a thing, but not fully articulated. With books like these and teachers like you, a deeper acceptance and hopefully more resources are becoming available.
I hope so too, Lisa. Thanks and God bless!
This is such an interesting discussion about the ties that bind a community. Thank you for these insights. Blessings to you!
Thank you, Annie. We need community. God bless!
Great quote on contempt. Thank you.
It seems to be the watchword of our times. Thanks, Christopher. God bless!