Love and Families

“We need to extend love to others. And if we don’t have a chance to do that, something goes really wrong.”

A family is a place where you offer care, you offer unconditional love. The bond between you is no longer transactional, its no longer even voluntary. And we’re seeing that spread in biological ways but in non-biological ways too. It’s one of the more hopeful things I see in society.”

It reminds me, a bit of a line in the book Tribes, by Seth Godin. In it, he writes, “What people are afraid of isn’t failure. It’s blame. Criticism” (pg. 46). I wonder if one of the key reasons why the family unit has broken down is because of the blame and criticism slung back and forth. About work, home, responsibilities, expectations, etc., etc., etc..

Creating one’s own family that doesn’t carry the burden of cultural, familial, and religious expectations is not only a bit more freeing, ITS A TON MORE FREEING!

Yet, there’s something to be said about a traditional family unit. A father, a mother, and their children. Isn’t there?

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  On Parenting

Tribalism: America's Greatest Weapon. America's Greatest Danger

The reason it’s so difficult to have a considered conversation about {religion, race, politics, gender, you name it} is that people feel threatened. Not by the implied criticism of the rituals or irrationality of a particular , but because it feels like criticism of their faith” (pg. 82).

Below are two videos about the Evergreen State controversy, surrounded by Seth Godin quotes from his book Tribes: We Need You to Lead.

“Tribes,” Seth Godin writes, “are about faith - about belief in an idea and in a community. And they are grounded in respect and admiration for the leader of the tribe and for the other members as well” (pg. 9).

“In a battle between sides,” he continues, “the best one doesn’t necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it” (pg. 43).

“A fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to his religion before he explores it. As apposed to a curious person who explores first and then considers whether or not he wants to accept the ramifications” (pg 63).

“A curious person,” he writes, “embraces the tension between his religion ( politics , beliefs, whatever) and something new, wrestles with it and through it, and then decides whether to embrace the new idea or reject . . . It has to do with a desire to understand, a desire to try, a desire to push whatever envelope is interesting” (pg 63).

“Religion at its worst” and I think it’s best to use that term generically, including all things outside religion, “reinforces the status quo, often at the expense of our faith” (pg. 81). Or, at the expense or our integrity, morality, and humanity.

The secret “is to listen, to value what you hear, and then to make a decision eve if it contradicts the very people you are listening to . . . People want to be sure you heard what they said - they’re less focused no whether or not you do what they said'“ (pg. 129.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Humanity  :  On Living : Education