Why Has Our Society Become a Fractured One?
(Coronavirus aside).
The average life span in America has been in decline for quite some time now. Normally, declines in life expectancy indicate something like a war, a famine, or a widespread disease. Coronavirus aside though, why has the American life expectancy taken a nosedive for several years now? What is killing way more of us?
The 2016 data points to three things: Alzheimer’s disease, suicide, and unintentional injuries (including drug and alcohol-related deaths).
A few years ago, 63,632 people died of overdoses. That’s 11,000 more than the year prior, and, it’s more than the total number of Americans killed during the entire twenty-year Vietnam war.
It’s almost twice the number of people killed in car accidents annually, which has been the leading cause of death in America for decades.
So, drug overdose has surpassed this.
And, in 2016, there were 45,000 suicides. And, the number has only continued to climb.
Americans are killing themselves, both on purpose and by accident.
These are not deaths from famine or war though. These are deaths via despair.
