Family is the most complicated relationship on earth. They’re the people we most love, yet the people who irritate us the most. And they’re right there at home, handy for us to take out our rotten day on. Sociologists say that how we treat each other in our family reflects how we treat everyone else. If we’re loving and forgiving within our family, we’ll likely extend that not only to our friends but into our attitude toward strangers across the country and in other hemispheres. If we’re ready to fight within our family, we’re eager to get into conflicts and wars elsewhere. You get the idea. Then, what small step can you take, what little change in your patience, attitude, or treatment of family members? Only you will know the answer. Look at your family and yourself and decide. The relationship with your family–and with others–is worth the effort.
Tag Archive for strangers
Is Child Abuse a National Pastime?
80% of the child abuse cases within the Boy Scouts of America between 1970 and 1991 went unreported. Churches (Catholic and Protestant and other faiths) have hidden cases involving their clergy, youth leaders, and other members of their staffs. School administrations have quietly moved accused offenders to other schools and positions. Coaches of youth teams carry on abuse in locker rooms while others look the other way. The perpetrators are not strangers. In fact, more than 90% of the children who suffer sexual abuse know their abusers.
A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. What about all the other, unreported instances?
Why do so many people feel it’s okay to harm our vulnerable children? Apparently, many people do feel this way, because there are so many abusers and so many people and organizations that cover it up. When we hear about it, we act shocked, shake our heads in dismay, then go on with our lives. In effect, those of us who do nothing to stop it are helping to perpetuate it.
Has this national shame become a national pastime, simply another tolerated violence like boxing and hunting? I hope not.
Love at First Site (Re-Posted With Correct Video)
This video fascinated me. A photographer throws strangers together, people who likely would not even say “hello” to each other as they passed on the streets, people who seem quite different from each other. What happens makes me think about what could occur if such pairings were made on a large-scale basis.