Unfortunately, stories are far more compelling than statistics: Most people don’t think — or, more important, feel — in numbers. But the big one, the Great War for the narrative, is being fought over the story of America. I suspect one reason American life spans are plummeting is a deficiency of meaning: We’ve lost the thread of our story. Looked at closely enough, any story becomes a world in itself, too big to be encompassed by any ideology, defying any slogans or morals. And I have some dumb idealistic conviction that every awkward, heterodox, contradictory truth adds up to create a larger, truer picture of the world.

Source: New York Times February 09, 2019 19:30 UTC