The author asks “Are we to believe that four out of every five Americans can be content amidst the terrible suffering of our world, the poverty and the violence, the war and failure?”
In short, the answer is yes.
Let me give you an example: this morning’s news headlined a situation in Florida where several men died when refrigerant leaked from a faulty container. Friends and family will grieve, others peripherally involved will be momentarily made aware of their own mortality. For the rest of the viewing audience the response was undoubtedly something on the order of “Damn that’s a shame… honey, have you seen my socks?”
That is as it should be. A rational human being knows that not every tragedy or injustice can be internalized, leastwise, not and retain one’s sanity. Life goes on, and just because someone died in Florida, or China, or some godforsaken hole in Africa, does not mean that we must feel guilty because we laugh and joke, or hold our grandchildren in our arms, and feel reasonably content with our lot.
