No matter how much you prepare, there's no way to truly be prepared for life. I learned that lesson last week. And I think the United States government is learning it as well. Crises create chaos and confusion, unsettling our foundation, and taking away from the energy we could use to address daily problems and improve our living situation. And America has faced a good number of crises and will continue to.  The problem is that we're not responding well to these situations. From Sandy Hook to the Boston Marathon bombing, from Syria to Iraq -- we act like a deer in headlights. We just don't know what to do. Our response mechanism seems broken because it is broken -- an unculture of political polarization has turned us into two warring camps incapable of seeing eye-to-eye.