Symptoms of a Society in Ruin

Human history is littered with scourges that have wiped out entire segments of populations – wars, famines, pestilences and diseases have been responsible for the annihilation of hundreds of millions of people. The Black Plague of the 14^th Century killed one third of Europe’s population, while more recently; 60 million people died in World War II, including six million Jews. Although these events seem light-years away from a modern, so called civilized society, we are standing at the flash-point of an epidemic that has already destroyed entire villages of indigenous people around the world, and is now mushrooming in urban centers in America – the AIDS virus.

Aside from Form 1040, nothing raises the anxiety level like the prospect of contracting AIDS; a deadly virus that breaks down the body’s immune system and prevents it from fighting diseases. According to a new study released yesterday, AIDS has reached epidemic proportions in Washington D.C., hitting particularly hard in the black community. Of the 3,269 HIV cases identified between 2001 and 2006 in the District, 80 percent of them were black men, women and adolescence. Among women who were tested positive, 90 percent were black. According to the Washington Post, the District’s AIDS rate is worst than any city in the country, nearly twice the rate of New York and more than four times the rate of Detroit, and it has been climbing faster than that of many jurisdictions.

AIDS, once considered by many Christians to be God’s judgment against homosexuals, has dismantled that stereotype. The rate of increase in new cases is now higher in the heterosexual community, at 37 percent (in the District only), than in the homosexual at 25 percent. If AIDS was in fact God’s judgment, has he now turned his anger against straight men and women in the black community? Who knows the mind of God, but I doubt it.

The study attempted to offer a number of explanations for the spike in the number of new cases in Washington, but really…do we need a sociologist to explain why AIDS is ravishing the District of Columbia? The part of this ‘modern epidemic’ that no one in the media seems to be addressing is that the soaring AIDS cases in the US is directly related to the triplets of sexual promiscuity, drug use and more importantly, banning God from our public institutions.

Let’s face it; America could virtually eliminate AIDS if men and women lived sexually pure lives, and if drug abusers would stop neglecting their bodies with intravenous narcotics and if God were invited back to the dinner table. However, that’s too many ‘ifs’ in a society where "Sex and the City" was one of the most popular cable network shows and was nominated for more than 50 Emmy Awards during its six season run; where the War on Drugs is simply a cliché; and where God is an immigrant without a visa. In fact, this country is sitting on a ticking bomb according to this new study. If we are not careful, America will become the next sub-Sahara where AIDS will wipe out entire cities; where 70 percent of the beds in a hospital are occupied by AIDS patients and where orphans have lost both parents to the disease.

AIDS is actually a symptom of a society that is out of control: too many children eschew authority; too many parents have abdicated their responsibilities; too many corporate leaders have placed profits above ethics; too many social leaders are more interested in publicity than finding solutions to social ills; and too many religious leaders have abused their authority. These are clear signs of a nation that is sinking; consequently, unless we take our country back, it will continue to slip into the throngs of ruin.

A good start to reclaiming America would be to become a better person; a better way to reclaim America would be to become a better person and volunteer one’s time in one's community to make it a better place to live; but the best way to reclaim America would be to follow II Chronicles 7:14 – If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

God Bless America, land that I love!