We are a people without a purpose. And such peoples invariably seek substitutes for what is missing from our lives in debaucheries, luxuries, and addictive entertainments. In other words, in elaborate representations of what has been lost.

And these substitutes are costly and fail to deliver what is missing. And because they are costly, and our purpose is unknown or some confused reflection of text or narrative, we often make war. When indolent, we are inclined to self-destruction.

The putative purposes that guide our nation have become fictitious mimics. And those that guide large aspects of our lives are often little more. To be human, we must have roles and opportunities worthy of our endowments and supportive of our development. Lacking these, we too easily become weaponized. The killers and the dead.

We are so far down this road as a people that we are no longer quite sure how to acquire a purpose. What it might or should look like. If it is possible. Where it should come from. What it might accomplish. But the first step is just this simple recognition that our lives require roles worthy of our humanity.