I'd like to thank everyone for their kind replies, too many to count by name. This post really seemed to resonate with a lot of people, and not just Americans. Here in the States we obviously have our particular quirks, to put it mildly. But we don't hold the monopoly by a long shot, an din some places it's so much worse with mass violence on the streets.

People who think and feel deeply are having the roughest time right now, and there are A LOT of us on here. It fills me with hope that so many of us are reaching out in whatever way we can from across the world. Humanity holds promise for a better future, which in my view is a more inclusive and just society no longer defined by material success but by community connection, solving the problems of war and poverty and addiction and all the other forms of worldsuck. We can live in a way that doesn't destroy the planet that gives us live, and destroy our minds. People may have different ideas of how to proceed (and I think that's a good thing, because no single ideology should dominate the way forward; everyone's voices and experiences deserve to be heard), but one thing is increasingly obvious: the way we are living just isn't working anymore.

So many people all around the world, of different cultures and economics and governmental systems, are feeling this isolation and general sense of decay. Steadily increasing income inequality not only within nations but between them is certainly a factor, but something else is happening too that no one can seem to quite define. I can't either. People are retreating into whatever feels safest for them, whether it's a continuation of materialism and narcissism, substance use, tribalism, extremist politics, or anything else we see (Brexit, anyone?)

Specifically to RDMercer: you really hit it on the head right there with what you had at your former home. Those kinds of deep personal connections are what makes life beautiful. When we are cut off from them, or can never form them in the first place, our psyches decay. You and your wife had something incredible there and I'm sorry you had to leave it behind. Working odd shifts is very isolating, and like many other things, it might be something you have to personally experience to understand. I did put in an application to return to school and finally finish my degree. I experienced a serious of personal, health, and financial problems that kept me out, but now I'm on my feet again and can move forward. I'm happy that you succeeded through the same thing.

And to everybody on here: thank you so much for making me feel so understood and less alone. You're helping to fuel my hope that humanity can work through all of this mess if we roll up our sleeves and stand side by side, regardless of our differences, which should be celebrated and not condemned.