Rejecting Family and Friends

It is portrayed as being a natural thing for people to do. I see it daily on popular media and social networks. It goes by different names, but it is the act of divorcing family members and friends who bring no value or benefit to your life.

The natural affinity of love between parents and their children, and between siblings too, has eroded. Instead of wisdom, foolishness and revenge are replacing love and compassion. Families are being torn apart by hatred.

It was predicted in ancient times that in our days “Because of the increase of wickedness the love of many will grow cold… Brother will deliver brother over to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.”

None of us lives up to the highest standards of behavior consistently. The older we become, the more this lesson is learned. We all seem to have been born with defects of character. No one escapes having faults. – That is why we are told to “Judge not, unless you also are judged.”

Of course, if there is violence and abuse, it is necessary to separate physically. But families should always support each other, even if it must be at a distance.

There is honor and nobility in loving the unlovable, especially if they are family. It is a disgrace, dishonorable, and foolish to hate those who love you. – It means that you are bereft of ‘natural affection,’ the innate love that unites families.

This is how the ancients described true love, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never ends.”

It is an evidence of maturity and wisdom when one learns to forgive with understanding and compassion, especially for those in our families. To do otherwise will hurt the hater more than the one they hate.

When families fail, nations fall!

Mark Baird