Over the month, I’ve been editing and rewriting my next novel, “The Penny,” and I’ve come to believe, even more, that we are all connected. In “The Penny,” there is a thread of two lives that stream together over many years, and as their lives intertwine, the connectedness of life around them comes to light. I believe under our current circumstances within the borders of the United States, we have lost all connection to each other. For some reason, and with some diabolical force among us, we’ve lost the vision that when we act as one, positive reactions occur. People feel cared for, resilient, and work toward a common good. That has all but vanished. What’s worse is a feeling, no, a premonition, I keep waking-up to that until something horrible happens, we won’t shake this dismantling of our humanness. Yes, humanness. Essentially at this moment in time we are animals roaming for the protection of some and looking for the food of evil that stokes the next hunt. Pack animals become territorial and kill those not invited. We have become this. We have become so unconnected that humankind threatens itself from not only blowing up each other, but blowing up the environment of Mother Earth so that a few more dollars can be squeezed into the white viral corpuscles of the ruling class. The balderdash that we will prosper with more jobs and more economic growth only facilitates the evil we have become. How about some responsible social capitalism where those who can prosper more than others do, but the rest of society actually sees and feels the benefit? There will always be great minds that take society forward. There will always be worker bees, and there will always be drones to ward off attack, but shouldn’t they all work together for the good of the whole? Why is it that the most primitive of insects can pull this off? The more advanced we become the less connected. The less loving and compassionate. Waking to a nightmare of loosing touch with my fellow-man scares the hell out of me, but I’m watching it happen as soon as I step into the streets and crowds. I can feel the nothingness as I pass by people not smiling, not saying hello, and afraid of what is going on in their neighbor’s thoughts. My pleadings can only see the daylight of civility through the written word and my actions around my own town. Perhaps you can practice where you live. I suspect life would become easier and less pressured. But please, don’t measure the comfort by amounts of money. If we do, the cycle begins anew. And if you bring religion into the fray, do so with the compassion for everyone and not just people like you. We’re all different and that is the best part of our humanness.