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March 21, 2007
News Commentary from Lake Wobegon
"And that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.
Oh, and we don't cotton to the gays."
Actually, I think Keillor makes a good point about the necessity of family to a healthy society.
Monogamy put the parents in the background where they belong and we children were able to hold center stage. We didn't have to contend with troubled, angry parents demanding that life be richer and more rewarding for them. We blossomed and agonized and fussed over our outfits and learned how to go on a date and order pizza and do the twist and neck in the front seat of a car back before bucket seats when you could slide close together, and we started down the path toward begetting children while Mom and Dad stood like smiling, helpless mannequins in the background.The purpose of society is to ensure the continuation of society, and strong families play an important role in ensuring the creation of good citizens.Nature is about continuation of the species -- in other words, children. Nature does not care about the emotional well-being of older people.
What I like about Keillor's essay is that it points out many factors that contribute to the growing lack of societal health in the United States. Far too often, social conservatives try to pin the blame on homosexuality or gay marriage, or pornography or an ever-coarsening popular culture. All of these do play a role.
However, I believe the greatest single enemy of the American family is selfish entitlement, the belief that the chief end to life is to be happy and anything that interferes with that happiness is something to be avoided. We seem to have forgotten that marriage is hard work. Raising kids is hard work. I love being married, and love being a father, but sometimes, being a husband and a father requires me to do things that do not make me particularly "happy."
Changing diapers, being awakened at 3:20 a.m., apologizing to my wife for being a jerk, pulling myself away from the indulgence of a book or the computer to spend time with my family - these are not always easy things to do. But I don't regret doing them, because the joys of being a husband and father outweigh the temporary lack of "happiness" caused by some of the more mundane or uncomfortable tasks involved.
I believe that maturity is found in the rejection of entitlement. This is not to say that I think I've achieved maturity - after all, I still giggle like a moron at "America's Funniest Home Videos" and read books about zombies. So I don't claim to be an expert. However, I think that a society is dependent upon the ability of its members to reject selfishness.
As an aside, this essay makes me really wonder what those Norwegian bachelor farmers are up to...
Posted by slublog at March 21, 2007 12:00 AM
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Comments
Great thoughts on the article. Thanks!
Posted by: adam h at March 21, 2007 05:37 PM