Vampire Times

There is a creep­ing empti­ness around us. It is sub­tle and insid­i­ous. It reaches into our souls with a glit­ter­ing charm then bleeds us dry. No won­der vam­pire books and movies are so pop­u­lar; they depict what is hap­pen­ing to us on sev­eral levels.

It is more than the ever-increasing taxes and the dimin­ish­ing pur­chase value of the dol­lar — but it works like that. It is tied to mind­less rou­tines and shal­low expe­ri­ences. The polit­i­cal bick­er­ing in the guise of news has fang marks on its neck…and sports its own fangs as well.

Cul­tures that lose their sense of united adven­ture resort to par­a­sitic tac­tics — to bleed each other dry. A sat­u­rated world has noth­ing left but to fight over its rust­ing toys. Secu­rity pur­suits at the cost of the next generation’s well-being are con­structed in vam­pire time — late in the night and in secrecy.

Teach­ers have noticed a shift in their stu­dents. Far fewer see any rea­son to grad­u­ate. They quickly set­tle for any amuse­ment of the moment. Jour­nal arti­cles have reflected on the extremes of this gen­er­a­tion. They seem either hyper or morose. Pay atten­tion to them. The youth of a coun­try are its best social thermometer.

When the Ulti­mate is removed, deep pur­poses dis­ap­pear as well, then there is noth­ing more than to “eat, drink, and be merry for tomor­row we all shall die.” When the Divine “Why” gives way to the mere “How Much” (con­sumerism), the ball­game is almost over. Pay­ing the bills will not give you enough mean­ing to write the checks. There is more to life than con­sump­tion and reproduction.

“Why” will give you all of the “How” you will ever need. Seek it first.