Part of the thrill of being American (because I swore in on May 24^th, homies!) is the communal ideology, the kindred dynamic, the togetherness...the...well...you get the Polaroid. Despite 50 states, several territories, colorful regional styles, varying tongues and just about every melanic spectrum, the U.S.A. is a clan. When speaking with an east African friend recently, I learned that some citizens remain disconnected from the national consciousness and identify mainly along heritage or tribal lines. Not so in America; when news breaks, the family gathers. Folks need not share ancestry or even agree. Nevertheless, experiences are shared. I'm reminded of a proverb: Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.

National news galore boils down to individual lessons aplenty, particularly for us young adult folks. To that end, it has been quite an eventful past couple of weeks so here is a sliver of headlines and the subsequent life pointers that we can all glean.

Miami Heat scores big

The White Hot Heat posse finally claimed the coveted NBA Championship trophy after a disappointing run in 2011 when the team fumbled on the 1 yard line. Okay, wrong sport but perfect analogy, here. Lebron James, in particular, has now redeemed his rash, boyish persona. Last year, the overconfident and headstrong James did everything from mock the Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzi's bout with the flu to pouting and refuse to congratulate the opposing team for its victory.

This year, though, James admitted his immaturity (so infamous and long-standing that, reportedly, he was nearly booted from the 2008 Beijing Olympic US basketball team) and rose to the occasion this year. A unrecognizably poised and focused James along with his equally talented teammates clinched the winning title. Massive congratulations and well-deserved redemption goes out to Lebron James-who'll, no doubt, tap into the same inner growth to bring home gold from London this summer-on obtaining his first NBA title.

I'd say that this Peter finally evolved into a rock.

Facebook. A technocracy?

Facebook is back in hot digital water after now changing email features, mainly. I'm not a Facebook user but I do listen to NPR, which explained on a show that "what they had effectively done is replaced my displayed form of contact information with contact information that pointed, it turns out, back to their site into an inbox that I never look at... It is possible to change it back but it isn't easy - I tried. You have to go to your personal Timeline, click on About, then go to the Contact Info, hit Edit - well, you get the point, it's a lot of steps." Apparently the changes coincide with the reality that the email feature-introduced in 2010-has been underutilized.

The "this-is-what's-going-to-happen-whether-you-like-it-or-not" tactic is what has earned Facebook the "technocracy" moniker. User input, no matter the outcry, remains ignored. The social networking site's chutzpah, experts say, is fed by two major things: demands by investors (Facebook's IPO move last month was a notorious flop) to remain relevant, since we all know what happened to MySpace, coupled with the knowledge that it remains the undisputed social media heavyweight.

But folks are crying out against what can be termed "Facebook residue," or increasingly vain, superficial and competitive ideologies. Andrew Keen, a social commentator, has written extensively on the topic and laments that "the more we self-broadcast, the emptier we become; and the emptier we become, the more we need to self-broadcast...Our self esteem is determined by our updates, tweets and check-ins...Our digital addiction can only be broken by a regime of strict self-censorship." (Keen's Digital Vertigo is the business, y'all.) Some Christians, in particular, shun Facebook in pursuit of a more intentional lifestyle grounded in the "gentle and quiet spirit" (1 Peter 3:4) doctrine.

As one young adult told CNN, ""Bombardment with stories you don't care about from people you barely care about. Depression that you're jealously stalking other's lives instead of living your own. Shallowness of content. The more content you absorb, the less valuable your own posts seem.""

Although it is morally neutral...and even if it's free to use, how much is social media costing you?

Jerry Sandusky found guilty

Renown Penn State coach, Jerry Sandusky was convicted on June 22 on 45 of the 48 counts against him involving sexual assault on kids. All told, the jury found Sandusky guilty on 10 counts of corruption of minors, 10 counts of endangering the welfare of children, nine counts of unlawful contact with minors, eight counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, seven counts of indecent assault and one count of criminal intent to commit indecent assault. Sandusky preyed mostly on underprivileged boys that he met through his charity, Second Mile. One victim was an adopted son.

Cloaked in goodness, Sandusky's case demonstrates how coaching darlings can manipulate their status to cover up inner demons. In his eerily confessional biography, Touched, Sandusky talks about his inner battles and closeness with boys. Once thought to be a Penn State saint, Sandusky now faces a 60-year sentence. At 68, he will certainly spend the rest of his life in prison.

There comes a time when justice beckons.