Throughout our history as humans, the family home has meant generations living together, usually under one roof. Here in the United States, as our affluence as a country grew, we started to change that dynamic.
When, the exodus from the family home started, i can't give statistics, but as the country grew , sons and daughters went out on their own. I's only right and proper, that they sought their own destinies.
Until then, generations sat down together at the table,worked together, shared the joys and burdens of life with a rich and varied support group. A support group of people who loved and valued each other. (In my family we say you have to love your family but you don't always have to like them) In this network were the older members, with their experiences, beliefs, cultures being passed on to the next generation. And even as important, their struggles and the lessons they learned from them.
The family unit provided support in hard times. Upon this rock, the newer generations could grow strong, knowing that there was a solid foundation of love, traditions and values, that they grew up on, that they could count on.
Under one roof, the family home, you had help. Babysitters, bankers, teachers, entertainers, mechanics etc. And most important, someone who cared more about you than anyone else in the world.
The Family home could be a row house in the north, a Sunday fried chicken dinner in a trailer in the south. Pizza boxes on the table, any where, with kids squealing as they chase each other around the table. Someone telling them to behave as dads, probably, sat watching the game. It could be anything.
Hard to enjoy that and benefit from it, if we run from it. Remember when you couldn't wait to get out of the house , away from the rules, restrictions? You were going to be own your own. Do what you wanted.
People need to make it on their own. True. But,as time went by and the family unit shrank, this knowledge, this support, these experiences, ceased to be. And we went off on our own. But at what cost? The heavy price of forgetting who we are and replacing it with values that allow us to even contemplate "death panels"?
Have our older family members become so valueless? Remember, one day, we'll be the older family members. No. I don't want to pay that price.
Today, today there will be four generation under our roof. It will loud, racous, crowded, annoying and great. There will be fights, arguements, laughter and warmth. It's our family home. I wouldn't want to be any where else.
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