What Happened?

I guess the title says it all. To quote a not-famous, phony DJ: "There's something rank in the air."

I'll get right to the point: What the blazes went down in the past 20 years that made antidepressants the norm, Psychiatrists rich and the "Self-Help" section of the bookstore THE largest section IN the bookstore?? When I was a kid, it was the smallest by far. Nobody had even heard of "Prozac", "Zoloft" or any other such drugs. Kids didn't come to school with guns and mow down dozens of anonymous (for the most part) schoolmates either.

Something strange happened over the past score years, something we haven't quite put our collective finger on. I have a few hunches, but I won't bend your ear or strain your eyes gassing off all my pet theories. That gets old quick; the whole "Disgruntled-citizen-spewing-forth-about-all-the-ills-and-evils-of-society" angle. It's a tired angle to come from. Jadedness or faux-jadedness. It's either a pose or- more often than not- a copout. I'd like to avoid both for now if that's all right with you. I say "you" under the assumption/presumption that there's someone out there somewhere that will someday give a damn enough to bother to read what a stranger like me has to say.

Whatever happens, I think you and I can agree that we're living in some interesting times. Strange and somewhat devoid of originality (sans a Black President of the U.S.), but interesting nonetheless. Tighten up your bootstraps, turn the lights down low and don't breathe too heavily. It's going to be a bumpy night.

(See? I told you there was a lack of originality going around).