Alluding to a greater concern. We are victims of our own complacency. In our constant struggle to try and make the world a better place and life have more meaning and value, I think we have softened the standards for being human a great deal, allowing the proliferation of ever more abberrant behavior. We seem to be at our best, and have the fewest social problems, when our survival is more directly tied to our environmnet, our natural world, and not isolated, processed and classified like it is for so many these days. It is no wonder that people such as Cho are able to get so disconnected and to fester in their own delusions, having so little else to challenge them and draw them into the tribe that they create these artificial worlds and realities that seems to satisfy some missing, undefinable need they have.

For so long mankind's existence was driven by very mundane and very real external forces. We were physically and mentally challenged, and most folks succombed to a life of toil and want. Now we are in an age of instant gratification, where most folks either have more than they will ever need to get by on or can do nothing and still manage to live relatively easily. Life loses it's flavor, and as we madly sprint through the shopping malls with plastic in hand buying up every convenience and frill to try and add a little color to our daily routine, we become increasingly more dissatisfied with what we have, and increasingly more isolated from each other. The word family loses it's meaning, and how many of us have life-long friends that are as much a part of our lives today as they were 10, 15, or 20 years or more ago? We lose the connection with each other, and our connection to our world, and then are surprised that some of us feel so left out and isolated that the only way left to find a connection to anything is diabolically.

I have a lot of respect for the founding fathers of our great nation. They produced a social model that was as practical as they could imagine for a nation to grow and prosper with. I believe that if they could see what we are becoming it would surely break their hearts, but they would still leave us with the liberties they agreed to because even now it is still better to be free to choose between the positive and the negative.

I'd have to agree with them. Having the right, even though some will abuse it, is by far the more preferable condition.