A few days ago, I was hitching a bus ride from Floral Park to Jamaica in New York as it had stopped near Creedmoor Hospital. As soon as the door opened, a group of youngsters stepped in and, without hesitation, walked past the driver and took their seats. The driver was unfazed whether they paid the fare or not. That is not the first time I have seen this emerging trend here in the city. Of course, there were always fare beaters, but now it appears to be an acceptable norm.

Another time, I was standing at the turnstile in a subway station to catch a train, and a bunch of teenagers, like a flash, jumped over the turnstiles and disappeared onto the platform. I asked two nearby police officers if it was still a misdemeanor to jump turnstiles, and their look of stoic resignation said it all. The police who were supposed to enforce the laws looked powerless or laid back. The ‘defunding the police’ movement and New York’s bail legislation appear to have taken a toll on their morale and readiness!

I also recollect walking into a Walgreens store looking for a bottle of after-shave lotion. The shelves were all empty. Soon, I walked back to the Cashier and inquired whether they were closing the store for good, as had been happening all around. The lady replied that there was no plan yet to shut that store down; however, she added that folks are simply walking out with goods, and nobody stops them.

This is the new America before our eyes in this season of Thanksgiving. Many folks don’t have to thank God for jobs or other opportunities but are thankful for all the free stuff they can grab simply by walking in and exercising their privilege not to pay. This blatant behavior is not borne out of some residual frustration due to high unemployment or lack of access but simply a transformation to a new valueless culture, which doesn’t bode well for the future of America.

Early America is said to have practiced the ‘Protestant work ethic.’As per Max Weber, the Protestant ethic, in sociological theory, is the value attached to hard work, thrift, and efficiency in one’s worldly calling. A person had to be “self-made.” It further held that man was a sturdy and responsible individual, responsible to himself, society, and God. In short, anybody who could not measure up to that standard could not qualify for public office or widespread respect.

Of course, we have come a long way from those Calvinist days, and there is ample justification to have a safety net for those poor and disadvantaged. And a country that boasts itself to be the richest could never turn its back on its hungry and people in need. The United States has a tradition of welcoming the ‘tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to be free.’ However, what we see today around the country is not a revolt due to open discrimination or denial of services. It can never be attributed to poverty as these miscreants mainly target luxury goods. The crux of the issue here is not necessarily the actions limited to some retail thefts by rowdy young men but a growing menace to the law-and-order situation of the neighborhoods we all live in.

If one goes for a walk in mid-Manhattan today, the odor of cannabis is everywhere. One might not even venture out to buy it to feel the effect of it, as the recent legislation permitting recreational use of marijuana in certain States, including New York, is at the forefront of challenging the youth of today. Whatever the reasoning for legalizing marijuana, I am afraid that it sends a wrong message to Children that it is an acceptable part of life. It would be tough to counter the argument that it is a gateway drug that could easily ruin a life addicted to it. According to a recent study by the Yale School of Medicine, adolescents who use pot or alcohol are three times more likely to abuse hard drugs than children who do not use intoxicants. All around us, standards are collapsing fast; we are witnessing a definite degradation in morals and values as society faces an ethical dilemma.

For any society, a strong nuclear family is its foundational strength. However, there are forces at work to weaken that institutional framework and to impose their agenda to its detriment.  Take, for example, the confusion being raked up in adolescent minds whether they are truly a boy or a girl. In less than a decade, transgenderism has gone from an issue affecting a tiny group of the population to a powerful ideology driven by mainstream media, corporations, and academia. Children have come to be at the center of much debate around transgender issues. Brunskell-Evans argues that ‘belief in the existential “transgender child” has become so universally accepted that it is now counter-intuitive to suggest otherwise.’

These days, gender identity has come to be how people feel and present themselves. A growing number of young people consider themselves non-binary. The use of bathrooms, particularly in schools, has become a thorny issue. A federal appeals court recently ruled that a group of parents could not challenge a Maryland School District’s policy against telling parents if their children identify as transgender or gender non-conforming. New York transgender guidance now says schools should hide gender transition from parents. More than 3.2 million US public school students are covered by guidance that blocks parents from knowing whether their child identifies as a different gender in the classroom. If a kid catches a fever at school, a parent is notified, but the same kid undergoes a gender transition; they say a parent has no right to learn about it! This whole saga unraveling before our eyes is gravely confusing to our growing young minds and bewildering to the parents!

While Indian Americans are so busy spending their political capital in creating holidays and defending an increasingly autocratic theocracy back home, America is on a downward spiral, affecting their own future as well as their future generations. Rampant inflation, runaway spending, rising debt endangering the status of the dollar as its reserved currency, increasing lawlessness, deep polarization of the American body politic along racial and party lines, and open border with Mexican cartel smuggling fentanyl mostly imported from China endangering our children, our penchant for wasting trillions of dollars in unwinnable foreign wars and greater income inequality etc. are all matters of grave concern to the people of this great nation. American Politicians, by and large, who are being routinely re-elected to those important legislative bodies are either beholden to vested interests or impervious to the aspirations and concerns of its citizens. The gap between the governing and governed has never been so huge. Therefore, it is time to examine whether the social fabric of this great nation is at risk and whether our role in shaping its destiny is being jeopardized.

Let this Thanksgiving be a time of gratitude for peace and security and the great opportunities we have been blessed with until now. Let us also take a vow to strengthen the social fabric and fortify our bonds. The United States has faced daunting challenges in the past, like the Civil War, World War, and the great depression, and has not only managed to survive but thrived as a nation. However, the great challenge for the nation today is to stop the eroding social trust and restore faith in this faltering democracy. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!