Saturday, September 26, 2009

It is not all relative. It is all relatives.

Did you realise that the UN Declaration of Human rights, includes the following: "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and
is entitled to protection by society and the State"?

However, in the decades since that declaration was signed by every civilised country, those very countries have turned around and, so far from protecting the family, actually undermined the family by means of taxation, welfare, changes in the financial and debt systems, housing and land issues, employment and work (usually under the guise of "equal opportunities"), education (which means maass brainwashing in many things), and of course the criminal justice system.

You may not believe me in all the details of the above statement. But you only have to look around you, or look at the statistics in almost any country, to realise that, whatever the causes, the result is a decline in the occurence of the family, and the richness of family life.

You may not like my views, you may still be open to a sober analysis of the situation, such as you find in "The Penumbra Effect: Family-centred Public policy", which has just been published by The Relationships Foundation, based in Cambridge, UK (www.relationshipsfoundation.org)

That publication includes the following passage, which I thought might interest you too:
"The family has been, is, and will continue to be the most important single source of wellbeing for the majority of people. ‘It’s all relative’ has been a central tenet of post modernity – in a world without absolutes, everything is relative. This report seeks to subvert that basic proposition. In a world of change, family remains. In times of transition, we turn to our extended families and relatives. Relative means dependent on or interconnected with something else. It also refers to a person connected with another by blood or affinity. The extended family brings these meanings together to conclude this report. The centrality of family to all aspects of society enables us to proclaim, ‘It’s all relatives’." Sphere: Related Content

2 comments:

Unknown said...

And here is an article that links the importance of family to poverty reduction, giving economic credence to your argument: http://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/getting-ahead-in-america.

Steven Downey

Arun said...

Selfishness is on rise. When man is the center of his world and there is no Revealed truth he is free to decide 'right and wrong'
No wonder that marriage and family are more of chains to a person than something to rest upon.
family starts with adherence of monogamy.
Now we all make fun of monogamy. I work in HIV field. I am astonished that the intellectuals in the field are opposed to promote monogamy as even 'one' of the choices to avoid HIV! They presume, may be due to their own personal reasons, that it is impossible method. They do not even take in to consideration that there are people like me who have remained HIV free because we adhere to monogamy.(at cost!)
Sex workers have been instrumental in enriching my own understanding on issue of monogamy. they seek eagerly, suffer in the process to the extent of even getting infected by HIV, getting robbed of money they earn hard way, -- but they seek some one who would be husband like person -- they call him Regular Partner. when at one hand the married world is skeptical on need of permanent sexual partner, sex workers are seeking him! A great existential paradox indeed.
Could we all get a hint out of it and come out of our slumber?
I wonder. And I pray.