In the early 2010s, the rock song “Sail” reached #17 on the charts. [1] The lyrics to this dystopian hit roughly croon the questions “Maybe I should cry for help?/Maybe I should kill myself?”
These words become painfully poignant if the listener knows that the song’s youthful target demographic suffers from an epidemic of suicide.
Between 1999 and 2014, the suicide rate increased 24 percent in the United States [2] and has recently become the second leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 10 and 34 years old. [3]
These frightening numbers prove that a growing portion of Americans believe that life itself is not worth living. Millennials, for example, are described by writer Elizabeth Ivanecky as having lost their faith in institutions like higher education, government, and religion. [4]
Estimates made by the National Institute of Health in the mid-2000s showed a remarkable leap compared to estimates made in the 1990s regarding the percentage of sociopaths in America’s general population. [5] Although it is unclear whether this is because of changing testing methods or an increasing percentage of sociopaths, anecdotal evidence supports the idea that our culture, as a whole, is lacking in empathy.
This became disgustingly clear as protesters supporting Black Lives Matter descended upon a hospital in Los Angeles where two police officers in critical condition were being treated for wounds sustained in an ambush. The self-righteous crowd surrounded the hospital chanting “death to police” with seeming indifference to the humanity of the two victims lying on death’s door. [6] Instead, the crowd passed judgment on which lives mattered…and which ones did not.
It has never been clearer that our culture does not value life. Perhaps that is because we have lost collective faith in God as revealed in the scripture. Genesis 1:27 offers the cardinal proof of mankind’s intrinsic worth: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
If our nation believed these words, we would not see these horrifying incidents. Our culture is moving in a direction that makes life cheap and meaningless, it no longer remembers the words of Matthew 10:29-31 in which Jesus assures his followers of their worth in the eyes of God:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Our culture is forgetting that life has meaning, that people have value, and that it is not our place to judge who deserves to live or die.
Foundations of Truth hereby waives all claim of copyright (economic and moral) in this work and immediately places it in the public domain; it may be used, published, edited, and distributed in any manner whatsoever without any attribution or notice to Foundations of Truth.
[1] Gary Trust, “Ask Billboard: How Does The Hot 100 Work?” Billboard (August 29, 2013), https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/ask-billboard/5740625/ask-billboard-how-does-the-hot-100-work?page=0%2C1
[2] Sally C. Curtin, M.A., Margaret Warner, Ph.D., and Holly Hedegaard, M.D., M.S.P.H., “Increase in Suicide in the United States, 1999–2014,” Centers for Disease Control (April 2016), https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db241.htm
[3] Claudia Wallis, “Another Tragic Epidemic: Suicide,” Scientific American (August 1, 2020), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/another-tragic-epidemic-suicide/
[4] Elizabeth Ivanecky, “Is Nihilism the Latest Trend Among Millennials?” Medium (March 13, 2019), https://medium.com/the-quasi-luddite/is-nihilism-the-latest-trend-among-millennials-18c8ff1f45b1
[5] Bill Eddy LCSW, JD, “Are Narcissists and Sociopaths Increasing?” Pscyhology Today (April 30, 2018), https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/5-types-people-who-can-ruin-your-life/201804/are-narcissists-and-sociopaths-increasing
[6] “LA mayor condemns protesters shouting 'death to police' outside hospital treating ambushed officers,” The Hill (September 13, 2020), https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/516232-la-mayor-condemns-protesters-shouting-death-to-police-outside-hospital
