The Power of Family
The whole concept of family seems to be increasingly elusive these days. Over a decade ago as I sat in a college class, my professor admitted that even though we were to be studying families, we didn’t have a good definition of what a family is. Since the industrial revolution, the societal forces tearing families apart have multiplied. Then, parents and children went away to work in factories rather than working together on a family farm or trade. Laws were put into place to protect children from factory work but nothing protected them from the effects of having absentee parents. Now, the idea of an intact, two-parent family with children seems almost quaint. A majority of kids grow up without daily interaction with two parents. Even so, families are not a lost cause—they can’t be. Though families are increasingly marginalized in our media and culture, the family is still the single most powerful influence on any individual, and the basic building block of society. It is only through empowering families that we can empower individuals, communities and societies to work towards peace, progress and unity. As women we must re-dedicate ourselves to the task of shaping, strengthening and sustaining our families, for therein is the power to change individuals, communities and nations.
The need to be purposeful in choosing which influences direct our families is more important than ever. As natural and man-made disasters unfold around us, as media becomes increasingly ubiquitous, as pressures on the family increase daily, we must act to share our knowledge and impart our values within our families. As women, as mothers, step-mothers, aunts, grandmothers, sisters and girlfriends, we have the power to shape the minds and hearts of those around us, if we are willing to make the effort to use it. In the many familial roles that we hold as women, our dedication to and love for other members of our family open them to our influence. As we nurture the individuals in our family by appreciating them, demonstrating our commitment to them and the family, spending time together and communicating positively, we are laying a foundation for our ability to shape the family and the individuals therein.
There are many levels on which our families need our shaping influence. Everything, from how we respond to disasters to the food we choose to eat, bares consideration and cultivation on our part. Without a firm, guiding force, families and individuals are subject to the chaos of whatever external forces may act on them. With an unwavering woman at its heart, a family can brave those forces and emerge strong and undaunted. Strong, purposeful families create strong, purposeful communities and societies. Even in the midst of the harshest societal influences—war and poverty, intolerance and oppression, we can shape the attitudes and understandings that our families have about those influences. Are we victims or actors? Even if we cannot change the circumstance, we can always choose what is in our hearts, and teach those in our family to have hearts of peace, progress and unity. As the most stable element of a family, we women have the responsibility to shape the family and thereby influence individuals, communities and nations.
For the power of a family to be felt in the social and emotional climate of our generation, the family must be strong and stalwart. Conscious and continuous effort must be exerted to create a strong family. Principles such as spending time together in work and play, creating family traditions or habits, forgiveness, generosity and kindness must be exemplified and nurtured. As women, it often falls to us to create the culture in our families that will magnify its strength. Exerting the energy to strengthen our families may seem especially challenging in the face of all the other work we do. It is important, though. It is essential. As social creatures we need to be part of something that is more than ourselves. If we, by inaction, allow the disintegrating forces of the world to tear apart our families the potential power of the family will be lost as well.
Strengthening our families is a choice we make moment by moment and day by day. Family must be our priority, even in the face of the vast array of demands that beset us daily. In spending the time to work together, to play together, to notice and appreciate each other, we are engaged in an essential service. We must slow down, sometimes, to savor the moment or share the tears. We may consult together and create routines and traditions which bring individuals together in a shared purpose. In the fast-paced lifestyles so many of us live, it is hard to value an effort which produces no obvious or immediate outcome. The outcomes of families may take decades to be manifest, but they are made in the moment. We as women must empower our families by strengthening them. In creating a strong family, we offer protection from the chaotic forces of the world and a place where individuals can be shaped and supported.
The potential power of strong, purposeful families to support individuals, communities and nations in reaching their goals and fulfilling their ideals is boundless. The family is the ideal environment for individual growth and progress and is the perfect building block for strong, stable nations as well. In a stable family setting, we can nurture individual needs and attend to and celebrate differences. The small, moment to moment support we offer those in our families may change the course of their lives and the destiny of nations. The intimacy and cohesiveness of a family adds to the meaningfulness of their interactions. What we do to support our families matters. When we create a consistent foundation of support, we are enabling greatness.
We live in a busy world and many of us have busy lives, full of work we find important. There is no work we can do, however, which will be more meaningful or have farther reaching consequences than the work we do in our families. It is in families that the lives of individuals are created and shaped. It is in families that the power to influence generations is harnessed. It is families that are the building blocks of society. Though there may be no good definition of what a family is in academia, we all know who we consider family. As women, and the cohesive bond in these often tentative groups of individuals, we can and must work to shape, strengthen and support our families. The power of family is in its ability to influence and encourage, shape and support, teach and try the individuals who make it up. As we dedicate ourselves to prioritizing our families, we will find that not only have we empowered others, we have been empowered ourselves.
