i'm finding it hard not to think about family today and the fragility of relationships. watching the funeral of elizabeth edwards, and listening to her daughter eulogize her mother feels a bit overshadowed by the poor choices of john edwards. waking up to the news of mark madoff's suicide is yet another tragedy caused by the incomprehensible choices of bernie madoff. a day filled with so much reverberating sadness. may they both have found peace.
it doesn't take a death to kill a family. the dynamic is delicate. bonds broken over poor choices. irreconcilable differences. grudges. when whittled down to the core, each indiscretion or action seems to come from a lack of respect for the person and the relationship.
as hard as it is at times to balance family demands, i try to make it a priority. it doesn't by any means always work. i do a lot of it the wrong way. it's hard at times do what's right, respect your elders, observe traditions, make unpopular choices, be in 5 places at once, and not always be in the 5 right places at once. but setting examples for children may be the only way we can insure the respect for family lives on.
wwcd: try to keep it all balanced
Thanks for the post - I've been thinking along these lines today as well. Last night at our UNR xmas party, family was the theme of many toasts, and many of my peeps here chatted later about what this means.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure most would agree that good choices are best and poor choices are to be avoided. I also stand in a place where life is too short and love is too important to hold grudges. Negative consequences for poor choices, okay. Sometimes. But after that, positive consequences for movement in the right direction can go a long way toward healing a family. I take the view that we're never really broken. Just "a little nervous from the fall." We can mend. We can at very least try and help each other up.
Looking forward to xmas in NY!
t.
from aunt judy:
ReplyDelete"Try to keep it all in balance".....that is the # 1 responsibility of the person, not always by choice, make it happen. Sad that this is non-ending, daily challenge. some days we are successful, others we just have to bite the bullet and cross our fingers that it will get better as the day moves on. second by second, minute by minute. not always in our control.
I have watched family and friends make terrible choices, decisions that have major, horrible results. no advice or conversation can alter the end results. you have to sit back, bite your tongue, and pray that it will not be as dreadful as u know it will be.