Modern Social Problems

Romans, as a rule, were very practical. They built more roads and bridges then art. In fact, we can still observe, and often replicate in a modern sense, a lot of the infrastructure that came from the ancient Romans. Infrastructure, however, is not the only innovation out of Rome we still build on today; Satire is also a device that originated in Rome, with the writings of Juvenal. One of the key parts of satire is that it takes societal problems and exaggerates them to prove a point. As such, I will be recounting, in no particular order, what I believe are the biggest problems in American society today.

1. Exploitation of the Environment/Natural Resources 

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Being from the pacific northwest, I love trees and rivers and mountains and basically nature in general. While I understand why we need all of the resources we get from the Earth, it makes me very sad for areas in the US with smoggy air and not a lot of nature around (so basically anywhere urban), because I think being in a forest (or canyon or lake) brings a sense of peace, and the lack thereof influence people negatively. It's easier to see the big picture when you can climb a a trail to see the horizon, and the lack of access people have to that definitely contributes to an inflated sense of self. 

2. Political Partisanship

It's a prevailing notion that nothing gets done in Congress, and what is passed half the population is dissatisfied by. While our legislature was designed to be inefficient, our political system wasn't. The fact that our elected leader are so divided that issues become "us vs them" and not about the people they effect is a real problem, and not only leads to dissatisfaction without government, but an unreasonable divide between two groups of otherwise reasonable people. Hatred, no matter what difference cause them, is impractical and creates tension where there should be cohesion in both our government and the people it governs.

3.Poverty

Rarely is it the individual's fault that they are impoverished. We are taught that charity and service are very important, and neglecting the poor of the country does nothing to fulfill that order. All people should have access to good food, clothing that fits, opportunities to advance and a safe shelter. Prevalent poverty hurts those effected, and gives them no room to advance or improve and the stress of that hurts the mentality of our society as a whole. Poverty is definitely a problem in American that we should be doing whatever is within our means to help correct. 

4.Lack of Family Values

                                      The following paragraph has nothing to do with Urkel.

Families are the building block of society. They are important, and everyone deserves one, yet the hedonistic trend our society has taken in the last 50 years means that kids are often left without the role models parents should be providing. Things like honesty, self-worth, and hard work should all be taught in the home, but kids pick up on how the parents act and the parents learned form their parents and it just seems to degrade with every generation. I worked this summer feeding children from low income housing, and I would argue that, some behavioral issues aside, all of those kids are good kids. The majority of the issues we had were with some of the parents, They encouraged kids to break rules, or act disrespectfully, and it was really sad and frustrating to see. Parents teach the children and a lack of a good parental figure does no one any favors.

5.Social Disconnect

The fact that I know the details of the lives of friends that I haven't talked to since middle school is a cool one. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites has made knowing of others easier, but in my opinion it has made connecting harder. Emoticons are popular because they make texting more personal. They are necessary because texting is impersonal. While the ability to perform a video job interview from several states away is laudable, the fact that many roommates would rather text then talk in person shows how these instant connector have left us disconnected as a people. I read an article yesterday about how people don't want to even take the time to listen to a voicemail anymore, they would rather read someone's words than hear the person's voice. Being able to communicate is a key element in civilized society, which is why the unwillingness to communicate in person by the current generation is so sad.