Scott Russell Sanders - In response to an excerpt from, "The Common Life": The Players Of Modern Societal Theatrics

Essay by bigmikeydoggCollege, UndergraduateA, February 2004

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Sanders' contends in his essay that American society has molded Americans into embracing anonymity and abandoning the "common life" and the social interaction that goes along with it. I completely agree with Sanders on this issue. It is truly a shame that the rate at which society is decomposing has grown so high. At many times throughout my young life I have already felt deeply disturbed by the lengths to which greed, envy, lust, and temptation drive so many of our nations individuals. Corruption infests the ranks of our country's leadership, and a profound lack of moral values has infected our younger generations.

Almost any society has those individuals who push on the edge of deviance. It would most certainly be expected from a nation borne of such rebellious citizens. These border-line deviant persons are the cause of progressive acceptance of the activities they take part in. Case in point: homosexuality.

There have been homosexuals living among the so-called normal population for hundreds of years, but it has only been in the last 30 or so years that they have come to be acknowledged and, for the most part, integrated into this definition of "normal" lifestyle. They may not be globally approved of, but they are acknowledged and put up with nonetheless.

Over the years, these groups who cause the progressive acceptance of deviant behavior have pushed the limits continually. There is nothing wrong with this, it is simply change. Yet now we have come to the point when some aspects of "border-line" behavior are in utter incongruence with the founding morals that should be upheld in society. It is these very morals which are in question that will maintain the integrity of our societies; if we push our individual values aside at present, where will we put our society...