Getting lost in the screams

All alone in the universe, sometimes that's how it seems/I get lost in the sadness and the screams... -- John Denver, "Looking For Space."

How did this happen? How did we get to this point?

Have you noticed the anger? God, it seems to be ubiquitous.

You can see it on the highway, if you accidentally cut somebody off. You can see it in everyday conversation, when somebody doesn't get their way.

And you can certainly see it in our political discourse, when "debates" have become nothing more than sound bites or a shouting match.

Nobody knows how to be civil. Few can craft a good argument. I think about those famous Lincoln-Douglas debates from 1858; that kind of politicking seems very much gone with the wind.

I don't know. There's a time for passion. There's a time for heated exchange. Occasionally, there's a time to lose your temper.

But, my goodness, for some people it's like sport. And, like the protagonist in the poignant John Denver song, I get lost somewhere in the screams.

We're the worse off as a country as a result.