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For this reason, what desperately needs healing in America today is not just this or that individual or this or that group. Nor is it even this or that institution o this or that value. In fact, it is not even this or that family or this or that community. No. It is
very soul of America itself - whose life has become suffused with an ethos of alienation - that cries out most loudly to be healed.
And so, in response to that call, we must all be mindful that an affliction of spirit can never be healed through institutional reform. Nor can it be healed by a simple reaffirmation of traditional values and virtue. Even a nationwide effort to restore civil society will not suffice. America's national predicament is simply too profound for such perfunctory solutions. Legitimacy in our social, institutional, and moral life can only be restored by a collective process of healing spiritual alienation. And, as we embark upon that journey, each of us, and all together, must be willing to extend gift of self to others through simple acts of love, compassion, understanding, and mercy, and to do so without any conditions or expectation whatsoever.
Gerald L. Campbell
See more at www.garaldlcampbell.com
Gerald L. Campbell served as senior staff to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine years. He became Senior Advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) under President Ronald Reagan and President George Bush.
Campbell went on to serve the administration of President George Bush and later, he served Texas Governor Bush as Senior Advisor to the Commissioner of Health at the Texas Department of Health in Austin.
