Disheartening as our absence of communal relations is in America, it does help to explain our persistent affection toward institutions, as well as our attachment to their recognition and acknowledgment in validating our self-worth — indeed, in bestowing on us the right to exist.

Unhealthy as this institutionalized relationship is for us, both individually and socially, it is comprehendable; institutions — for better or for worse — are presently the only enduring loci of collective memories for our rootless society, disconnected from the land and lives that surround us. Until we construct more functional alternatives, institutions — despite their repeated betrayals and systematic exploitation of every aspect of our daily lives — will maintain their grasp on our lonely psyches in this perverted exchange for a sense of belonging.