The Health of the Family is the Health of Society

 If we are to ask why society and the global community is  going to the dogs, we have to look at the family for clues. What has happened to it through the years? How has it evolved with the advances in science, technology and medicine? 

 

While it cannot be claimed that the family was a perfect unit in the olden times, the simpler circumstances in which it existed made for clearer moral mores and codes of conduct, clearer cut roles for each of the members, which redounded to a more orderly society as a whole.

The emergence of mass media, such as newspapers, and eventually radio and television heralded a new age for the family. Suddenly, codes of conduct were not being handed down to the younger generations by the elders, traditional institutions such as schools, churches, and government.

There was a new outlet for sending messages, democratised and readily accessible. Mass media has its pros and cons, but towards the latter part of its evolution, it seemingly became a tool for evil as it was used to shape public opinion, with muck raking, gossip and rumour mongering becoming a norm for unscrupulous practitioners. Advertisers wanting to make a quick buck sent messages of consumerism, materialism, and sexual promiscuity to sell their products.

How society is right now is a product of these messages, with the moral core of the family undermined by what have become seemingly acceptable behaviours such as infidelity, non committal sexual relationships, the mercenary mentality where allegiance is pledged to the highest bidder for one's intelligence, abilities, and even body.

Abortion, for instance, has become rampant because of unwanted and teenage pregnancies. These pregnancies are a function of sexual promiscuity, be it premarital or extramarital sex. Such behaviours in turn, stem from the lack of a moral basis when faced with the choice to preserve one's chastity or give in to one's sexual appetites and ephemeral attraction. Maybe this widespread belief can be attributed to films, which have over the years become more racy in their portrayal of sexual relations between two individuals.

However, this equation is not as cut and dried as blaming the family's morality on social media. We cannot emphasise enough the role parents and elders play in shaping the values of children, who, in turn, become future citizens and movers and shakers of society.

I am a product of the 1980s, being born in the late 1970s. Media was at its raciest at this time with the world seemingly high on sexual freedom as advances were made in contraception, which started in the 1960s and the drug taking lifestyle. But as a child growing up in these confused times, my parents and grandparents were conscious and active in shaping my values and morality by filtering the messages that I absorb through media and choosing the books I read, the people I consort with, and by establishing habits and rituals that honour those values and mores such as family mealtimes, observing Catholic traditions, and going to Catholic school.

While I make no claims to moral ascendancy and virtuous perfection, my upbringing has guided me through the increasing confusion of the world. The moral code I was brought up to believe in serves as a rock, a foundation in daily decision making, as I try to navigate between choices that I perceive to be right and wrong.

I pursued higher studies, always strive to be independent, helpful and compassionate. I put in 100% in everything I do, be it a big task or small task. I appreciate humility, and am repulsed by arrogance and narrow mindedness. These are the values that my parents and elders inculcated in me, and they have served me in good stead at every moral crossroads I've had to take.

I shared these bits of information to illustrate the significance of the family in building healthy, progressive, and prosperous societies. We wonder why life has become so cheap nowadays with mass killings and suicide bombings. Let us look at the materialistic messages that bombard the family every day through every avenue imaginable. We have been taught to forget about God, the Author of Life, to whom a single ant is precious because it is alive. We worship money, sacrifice everything at its altar. Why are mothers and fathers absent in their children's lives as they put in more and more hours at work, to provide what? Money to buy things they don't need, money to do drugs with, money to be friends with improper people with, money to pay other people to raise their kids?

As the world takes the next leap in technology, and the next, and the next, we have to stop and take stock of where we want to take our society. We have to take a stand. Will we take care of the family, and thus society, or will we let capitalist greed lead it to its doom?

If so, we have to rethink the messages we are sending to the world. We have to evaluate the things we will teach future generations to value. Will it still be money above all, momentary sexual pleasures, or will we will the clock to turn back and once more perpetuate social mores that put value to sexual purity, marital fidelity, compassion, care for the environment, love for neighbour, and fear of the Lord? 

The choice is ours.