Reflections Of A Post-Modern Depressionist

I wrote this essay a long time ago!

A friend told me that I am suffering from "Post-Modern Depression", a vague term he used to describe the condition we all suffer from, here in the sunny state of California. I was telling him about a trip I had recently taken to Mobile, Alabama; how being back in the place where my parents originated was strangely like "going home" to me, and the realization upon my return that I live in a moral wasteland. I was complaining that this area where I live, around the San Francisco Bay, must rank as one of the worst places to attract people of the opposite sex who are interested in a long-term committed, monogamous relationship. I have given further time to this thought, and have concluded that the problem is far deeper than simply finding a suitable mate. I believe that many of the difficulties we experience as a society are because the basic moral infrastructure; the assumptions we have concerning our behavior towards one another, is left in shambles in the wake of the "come back from the war, make babies and suburbs" mentality of the 50's, the sexual revolution of the 60's, the moral relativism of the 70's, and the "me-first-greed-is-OK" attitudes of the 80's.

We Americans, and most especially Californians, have lost our sense of community. Indeed, one can make a real argument that Americans do not have a meaningful sense of community (and by extension, a culture) because we are a nation of immigrants divided into many separate communities. Couple that with the "go west" frontier mentality that permeates our collective conscience and it is not hard to see that we experience social schizophrenia on a personal, as well as national scale. The idea that we should all be capable of fending for ourselves after the age of eighteen, striking out on our own to seek the American Dream of your own home surrounded by a white picket fence with a two car garage and 2.5 kids to go in the cars is very much alive. The post-World War II doctrine combined this strong sense of the individual with the ultimate expression of individualism —the house in a suburb, complete unto itself and removed from the larger community of a city, nestled deep in the bosom of quasi-community.

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