Richard Demeritte

The Nature and Dynamics of Family Life Richard Demeritte

In today's twenty-first century, we live in a world of perfect means, but confused goals. There is a crisis in the world momentarily, which is unpredictable as politics and uncontrollable as inflation. It is the breakdown of morality and discipline in the home and ultimately the family. Behind this background, the times are confusing and young people everywhere are searching for a standard to believe in, an example to follow and a world they can relate to. In this atmosphere, it is important for the family to preserve society for upcoming youth as the society can only be as strong as the family. Regrettably, as you look around at your fellow human beings, you find it hard to ignore the fact that very few are fulfilled and leading focused lives. Most of them are unable to cope with their problems and the circumstances of daily living. The majority settling for the average, having resigned themselves to, "just getting by." Acceptance to mediocrity has become a way of life. The feeling of inadequacy causes them to blame society, people, circumstances and surrounding conditions for their failure and disappointments. The idea that people and things control their lives is so ingrained in their thinking that they normally will not respond to logical arguments. There is a growing awareness that if democracy is to survive and its precious strength are not to be strangled by international and internal chaos, then we must get on with the work of constructively analyzing our family system. Our thinking must then be from the concern of quantity, toward attention of quality and from the concept of individuality, toward the concept of interdependence. Planning must be aware of its origin in hope, as hope is nurtured by images of the future that we desire. To refuse to hope is an act of disloyalty against our humanity, as hope is always the future now. To hope is to evoke the future.