“I am the Mother of all things and all things shall wear a sweater”
I ran across this quote and it sort of rang true for me. Mothers are at the heart of it all, the center of the home. We set the standards for our family, what is acceptable and what is not. We provide; life in utero, milk for our newborns, love, encouragement, warmth, knowledge. We hold little fingers and slow down our pace so little feet can keep up with us. We cool feverish brows, chase away the dark and the scary, we're the ultimate security objects. We feed, nurture, comfort, protect our children and those who belong to us.
But if we are to survive and thrive in the world that is coming, where do we stop? Is it enough to feed and provide for our own children when the children next door do without? When we say 'me and mine', where does that begin and end? Aren't we all extended families? Where do YOU draw the line on who will eat and who will go without?
1 comment:
Andrea,
I've personally spent the last year saying that we have a Depression coming on. As a student of 1920s and 1930s history, and someone who has studied recessions and depressions in history, what's happening is pretty scary. Hopefully I'll be wrong, but I'd rather prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
In regards to "Aren't we all extended families? Where do YOU draw the line on who will eat and who will go without?" I have a sad, Depression-era story from my family to tell. My stepdad's grandfather was a minister of a protestant religion in the rural South during the Great Depression. He felt the same way as you, so he opened the church to homeless poor folk during the evenings so they'd have a roof over their heads to shelter them. He spent every extra penny buying food for the poor transients and members of his parish. The parishoners disliked this and told him that he couldn't use the money THEY paid him for such a purpose, and that the church could not house anyone, not even in the winter. He refused to turn anyone away and he lost his job & ability to support his family. I *hate* that story. To me, that is one of the sadder stories I know.
Two generations of the family since (the minister's son and his son's kids) then have been atheists. They are the most Christian-acting atheists I know, as they are the kindest, most charitable, helpful folk I know. They say if this is what Christians are like, and what the Christian God allows, they don't want to belong to that group.
I don't agree with them, human nature can have it's really bad sides and this is a terrible example of unkindness on multiple fronts, and peoples' religion has nothing to do with their ignorance, fear, and stupid attitudes. But I try to think about this story a lot. This is one reason I'm over on our discussion boards, trying to share what *I* have with others (which is not much, but at least I have some knowledge & some seeds!). I really do believe that we need to pool our knowledge, resources, abilities, etc.
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