The wages of ass-backwardness

One of my female relatives, whom I love dearly, has always lived her life in a Modernist fashion. I've never agreed with the way she raised her children or practically anything else she did. Now, I keep my thoughts to myself, as it's not my place to criticise, but recent events show that you can't wallow in nonsense and escape unscathed.



Without drubbing about too much in details, let me briefly point out a few wacky issues: fad diets, child psychology books, not letting her children have "violent" toys, liberal Catholic ideology, filling up her every spare minute with part-time jobs (when hubby makes six figures), and a peculiar DARE-like love-hate attitude toward drugs. Some of these foibles have already come home to roost in horrifying ways, and I've been impressed at the way the family handles them.

Now, she's leaving her husband for someone she met working at a second (or is it third) job. She's not even asking for custody of the youngest child. We hear explanations largely based on "finding herself." This family is in utter disarray thanks to a clear lack of perspective. The only sanity in this world is to be found in the larger things: God, beauty, history, philosophy, and love. Intellectual myopia leads to heartbreakingly avoidable discord.