Escape or Opportunity?

The loss of extended family close by does sound beneficial. I too have frequently fantasized about how wonderful it would have been to have family help me through the rough times. To not have had to go it alone...

But what if they are not supportive? 

What if they continue a cycle of abuse? 

I am not asking this to disagree...but a friend of mine told me that her parents moved to the East coast from the midwest to escape the family patterns and abuse. She said that her mother decided it was better to be alone rather than have her family influence and potentially hurt her children. 

After she and I spoke I wondered if that was one of the reasons that we are all isolated from each other...Perhaps we did not want to be reminded, but we also don't want any of the filthiness to touch our children. I am reminded of the title of a Erma Bombeck book, Family: The Ties that Bind and Gag.

I wonder what the seed of this in the American Culture? The country was founded by people who were willing to leave the familiar behind to set out for something better. Maybe they were escaping not only societal oppression, but family violence and oppression as well. Maybe we are descendants of the abused and oppressed...and that's why abuse is so common in our country.

Today on NPR I heard a report from The Lancet, a medical journal, about rape. In China they found that 10% of men surveyed admitted to raping a woman. The number jumped to more than 50% if they included those who reported raping their wives. What a wicked world we live in. 

I just started a book called, Beyond Power; On Women, Men and Morality by Marilyn French. I am just getting into it, but it discusses a fundamental moral difference between men and women. It talks about the male idea that they are superior to nature, taming it and controlling it for their own gain and benefit. It also talks about women being part of nature, fertile and communal. This idea is the basis of the patriarchal society where males control everything, including women. It is sad that such an ancient and archaic ideal still sets the parameters of society.

I have been asked to do a 30 minute talk at a local women's conference in Oct. on stress and the body. I have a lot of material on this...I just have to make it interesting and somewhat unique. Any suggestions?

I am off and running once again.

Until tomorrow.

Blessings,

Maggie