I’ve been thinking about some thoughts my little sister posted on her blog a few weeks ago.
Winter semester I had a splendid class in which my professor made the observation that it is not the family that is in decline, rather kinship. Family, as understood in the nuclear sense, and only the nuclear sense, is quite strong. It is rather kinship--relationships and ties with cousins, aunts, and uncles and your cousin's cousin's uncle that should receive the focus. It's that feeling of being interdependent among each other. She pointed out that the concept of a "nuclear family" is a recent phenomenon of our modern individualistic society and is quite unnatural. I personally agree, though I'd be interested in hearing people's responses to this idea.
This sentiment resonated with me for several reasons, perhaps its because I come from quite the kin sort of people, and I enjoy it. Then again, perhaps I'm not as independent as I could be because of it. Also, it wasn’t until I was older that I realized not every child went to visit their grandparents for hours on end on Sundays and had their cousins as some of their best friends.
What I might modify in my professor's thought is that the family is in decline as long as the kinship is in decline. Family relationships are special because of their ability to withstand time, if those relationships disappear when everyone has their own family, they might as well have been friendly neighbors. (I like friendly neighbors mind you, we've got some great ones upstairs)
Granted, there are some families of which I would rather not have strong kinship ties and regular interactions with, however, for the most part I think these families are few and far between. Instead I would guess that there is far too much separation and alienation between individuals that could be having splendid times together. Sometimes I think everyone is so eager to establish their "own family" that they forget, our purpose in the gospel is to be looking out for more people instead of less.
