Lane describes a different portion of the scaffolding. The consequences of all this elicit from Lane a rare burst of eloquence. For people lacking in social support of this kind, unemployment has more serious effects, illnesses are more deadly, disappointment with one's children is harder to bear, bouts of depression last longer, and frustration and failed expectations of all kinds are more traumatic. Statistically, the social recession has leveled off since the mid-1990s, though it's not clear why. Not everyone gracefully outlives his or her growing pains.
Some adolescents do go haywire, after all.
Not convulsively, perhaps, but just drifting into a psychic minimalism. Doubt and freedom are sacred to us since the Enlightenment, and rightly. Whatever bonds and beliefs we hope to ground community on must be able to withstand all criticisms and temptations. Let's hope for a prophet. As it happens, my favorite prophet, D.H. Lawrence, has some apposite words.