David Brooks has a column today reflecting on language shifts over the last 50 years. His observations are interesting.
Usage of humility words like “modesty” and “humbleness” dropped by 52 percent. Usage of compassion words like “kindness” and “helpfulness” dropped by 56 percent. Meanwhile, usage of words associated with the ability to deliver, like “discipline” and “dependability” rose over the century, as did the usage of words associated with fairness.
And this:
On the general subject of demoralization, he finds a long decline of usage in terms like “faith,” “wisdom,” “ought,” “evil” and “prudence,” and a sharp rise in what you might call social science terms like “subjectivity,” “normative,” “psychology” and “information.”
Brooks has some interesting conclusions on this matter:
Over the past half-century, society has become more individualistic. As it has become more individualistic, it has also become less morally aware, because social and moral fabrics are inextricably linked. The atomization and demoralization of society have led to certain forms of social breakdown, which government has tried to address, sometimes successfully and often impotently.
Those are his observations, and certainly can be argued. True or not in the culture, those are things that should be of concern in the Church. Cultures shift and moral awareness does shift and even fade. This is a place where the Church should be different. The sad news to me is that we are often as unaware as the culture. We too often seem to be drifting along.
Brooks makes some conclusions as to what this means for conservatives and liberals in politics. That may all be well and good as well, but the conclusions for the Church need to be considered as well. In my opinion, we SHOULD be doing better.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 
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