If
\nyou would have invested one hundred dollars in the stock market in
\nJanuary of 2000, by December of 2009 it would be worth just ninety.
\nThis has led some writers to describe the past ten years as the lost
\ndecade. I disagree. Loss assumes an unconscious act of forgetfulness.
\nThis, by contrast, was a decade of deliberate escape, an era in time
\nwhen America chose to enter an alternate reality. A ten year interval
\nwhere otherwise responsible citizens decided that the best way to deal
\nwith their problems was to simply ignore them.<\/p>\n
\n
This decade saw
\nthe advent of reality TV, launched by Fox in February, 2000 with ‘Who
\nWants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire,’ ushering in an era where people
\nbecame so unenamored of their own reality that they chose to escape to
\nsomeone else’s. It was a time where we developed an insatiable appetite
\nfor fame and learned to live vicariously through Hollywood glamour and
\ncelebrity trainwrecks. It was a decade that ended with us watching an
\naverage of 5 hours of TV per day and where Hollywood broke all previous
\nrecords as people saw ten bucks to escape problems as the ultimate
\nbargain. It was also a decade that saw the advent of texting, allowing
\npeople to forego the immersion of emotion-filled conversation and
\nescape to dry, robotic discourse. Most of all, it was a decade where we
\nshopped until the economy dropped, using consumption as the ultimate
\nescape from unhappiness and dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n
The tragedy of having escaped to an alternate reality this past
\ndecade is that our problems have only gotten worse. After 9\/11 we
\ndelegated the fight against terror to a warrior class of just two
\npercent of the population and refused to even watch their dead bodies
\ncome home for burial, busy as we were watching Dancing with the Stars.
\nWe then refused to even pay for our wars and just added it on to a
\nnational debt that at the end of the decade reached the staggering sum
\nof twelve trillion dollars. Having not been content to nearly destroy
\nour entire economy through a truly reckless government and personal
\nspending binge, we added one further escape in the form of internet
\nporn which by the end of the decade had grown, by some reports, to an
\nhour a day for men. <\/p>\n
In the meantime our relationships got worse as, for the first time
\nin American history, singles became the majority population in the
\ncountry. Our country became more politically divided between liberal
\nand conservative since incessant tension and conflict create a
\ndiversionary reality of their own. <\/p>\n
And as we escaped and escaped, we scarcely asked ourselves what were
\nescaping from. What was so uninviting about our lives that we were
\nconstantly running from them? What was inadequate about our marriages
\nthat we spent much of the decade discussing Brad and Angelina’s
\nnon-marriage? What was so boring about our kids that we ended up
\nobsessed with Madonna’s adopted kids? And what gaping hole had opened
\ninside us that required shoving an endless number of electronics, cars,
\nand jewelry just to fill that cavernous space? A year after the
\ncollapse our bankers are just as greedy, our shopping patterns nearly
\nas voracious, our politician’s spending patterns even more reckless. <\/p>\n
Some would say that 9\/11 was the cause behind the decade of escape.
\nAfter an end was brought to a lengthy cold war we thought that danger
\nwas finally behind us. So when death rained down from the heavens we
\nresponded by checking out. I don’t buy it. Americans have always
\nresponded to military crises by deeper engagement rather than mindless
\nescape. <\/p>\n
No, the real reason for our escape was the loss of Godly meaning
\nfrom our lives. The material plenty of the eighties and the nineties
\nbrought about a gradual spiritual corrosion. We began to lust for
\nobjects rather than purpose. We allowed our careers to take the place
\nof a genuine life calling. Friends came to supplant family.
\nRelationships based on common interests stood in for commitments based
\non common purpose. <\/p>\n
In the process we allowed shallowness and laziness to creep into our
\nsouls. Escaping was so much easier than engaging. Coming home from work
\nit was a lot easier to pop on the TV than talk to our kids. Taking our
\nspouses out for a weekly movie stood in for having raw and honest
\nconversations. And when all this emptiness depressed us and made us
\nfeel lonely, we turned to the impulse purchase as the solution. We went
\nto the mall rather than to the Church, to the Cineplex rather than the
\nSynagogue. <\/p>\n
I was born in the United States and lived here for the first sixteen
\nyears of my life before studying in Israel and Australia and then
\nserving as Rabbi at Oxford for what amounted, in total, to seventeen
\nyears abroad. I returned with my family just as this decade was
\nbeginning. I love America, but I’d have to conclude that for all the
\ntechnological advances of the past decade, we’ve stagnated socially. We
\nare ending the decade poorer, more ignorant, and more alone. <\/p>\n
I am therefore not surprised that an obsession with Michael Jackson
\nis what closed the decade for Michael became the very symbol of
\nAmerican escape. Rather than confront his mounting debt he just spent
\nmore money to distract himself from looming financial oblivion. Rather
\nthan seeking to build inner self-esteem, he turned to plastic surgery
\nto feel better about the man he saw in the mirror. And rather than
\naddress the pain that was consuming him, he turned to prescription
\ndrugs to medicate it away. <\/p>\n
We would be wise to reflect on how tragically his story turned out. <\/p>\n
Our country needs new direction and now more than ever there is hope
\nfor optimism. We have seen how unfulfilling rampant materialism and
\ngreed are. We have learned that mindless escapes foster even greater
\nproblems. Let this therefore make this coming decade one of
\nre-engagement. Let’s fill the emptiness in our lives not with more
\nshopping but with more communal volunteering. Let’s watch less TV and
\nread more books. Let’s text a little less and open up a whole lot more.
\nLet this be the decade of deeper reflection and self-awareness. And
\nover the next ten years let’s learn to be content with our material
\nblessings and pursue instead the riches of the spirit – wisdom, virtue,
\ncharacter, and enlightenment. <\/p>\n
After a decade of mindless escapes its time we reached for a higher reality. <\/p>\n