Does the Family Matter?

What are the unique aspects of the love of a child, a sibling, a spouse and a parent? What are the particular virtues manifested in each of these realms of love? How do these relationships connect to our roles in society? These are questions we should consider.

Families have a central role in all cultures. Children absorb their society's values and standards of behavior through their home life as the families extend their heritage from the past to the future.  The essence of family is kinship - biological kindship and emotional kinship.  Through the family, we are linked by blood and by affection.  The intense emotional qualities of family relations are recorded in our earliest literature as well as in modern novels.  Patterns of family relations transcend time.

Early moral and ethical writings often warn that society loses its strength if people do not fulfill their family obligations. Confucius taught that a happy and prosperous society depends on people fulfilling their proper roles in the family, especially towards their parents.  He taught that the father-son bond is the model even for the relationship between a ruler and his subjects. The cultural importance of the family is also emphasized in the Judeo-Chnstian tradition, and the Bible traces blessings and responsibilities through generations of families. The earliest writings in India, the Rig-Veda and the Laws of Manu, devote much attention to the family.

Philosophers and social scientists have long been fascinated by the impact of the family on society. Sociologist Brigitte Berger points out that the family is the most basic building block upon which all other social forms rest. "Family systems," she writes, "provide the foundations from which culture and civilizations arise".  The family is the culture-creating institution par excellence." Since a civil society is built upon the virtues learned in the family, Berger urges people to recognize "the singular importance of the family in the formation of civilization." Families have a central role in cultivating a mature character and deepening the heart. 

In a sense, the family is a sacred institution.  The stability of the family can foster social stability.  Instability in the family can foster social instability.  For some, our immediate family is a 'training ground' for learning to deal with issues in our global family.  Our ability to resolve conflicts across cultures require the same basic skills we learned in resolving difficulties in our immediate family relationships.  Our likelihood of share resources with others - especially the less fortunate - is connected to whether we learned to sacrifice and share among our siblings.

As we move forward, each of us working to make our contribution to society, let's not forget the importance of healthy family relations and let's honor this Tenth Anniversary of the International Year of the Family by giving our own families a little extra love and attention.  The world will be a better place for it.

- by IEF Staff Writers with contributions by Eric Wenzel