The Mysterious National Syndrome

I was hearkening back to my early college courses a few days ago. The field was psychology. It was a Freshman course, the basic stuff. It was more interesting than a lot of my other classes, but I knew from the start that I had neither the temperament for psychology as a profession, nor the resources to carry on through graduate course work. In my case, the course work was almost entirely academic (pun intended). Like most electives, at least those in a decent curriculum, there were some informative bits that carry value to other fields or daily life.

Consider the medical term "diagnosis." As defined in the course that I took (again, quite basic) the term simply meant "naming the disease." A remarkably simple definition, something even those who could never dream of entering Med School (except perhaps to deliver pizza) would have little trouble understanding. And yet, as simple as the definition is, it remains a powerful tool in medicine. Think of the difficulties that would arise without it. How much time would be lost in servicing and treating the patient if at every turn, every consultation, the doctor was forced to relate an on-going list of symptoms, real and imagined. Certainly each physician would have a grasp of the condition, assuming that information was not lost along the way, but standardized care would be either impossible or greatly restricted as each doctor tried to treat the symptoms according to his own experience. In the long run, I believe that missing this one, simple concept, would mean an incalculable increase in suffering and mortality across the nation and the globe.

The concept does not only apply to physical ailments. Though not generally referred to as a "diagnosis," solving a problem in most any field usually requires that the conditions be identified, the problem named. The diagnosis is the focus for action, the rallying point for the players, the identifier that allows prioritizing resources. For a problem of any scale at all, you have to name it to have any chance of solving it. And if you want to have a decent chance, you had better be correct. It's common sense, as simple as pie, and rapidly becoming as scarce as jobs for the fifteen to twenty-four demographic.

We see the symptoms: unemployment, economic stagnation, political corruption, loss of national borders. Yet our leaders, and many who still express some kind of faith in them, cannot or will not name the problems. They won't call terrorism "terrorism." I heard that "man-made disaster" is the currently approved term. Militant Islam, what's that? There is no flooding of illegal immigrants. It's simply an influx of  "undocumented workers." There are no problems, at least none that the current administration is willing to tackle. And since there are no problems, there are no need for solutions. All it takes is a quick address, and then off to tee for quick round on the back nine. Meanwhile, the nation continues to succumb.

Will the patient live? Probably. Nation states are hardy. While they do pass from time to time, it's a lengthy process. We still have a long way to go. I wonder, though: Is that more time to recover, or simply more time to experience the fall, waiting hopefully, prayerfully, desperately. Waiting for our leaders to have enough courage to name the disease.