The Ultimate Oxymoron - Family Values

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This article is reprinted from Challenges.

THE ULTIMATE OXYMORON*
FAMILY VALUES
An Editorial by Donna Thompson

“This identical twin inherited his Uncle Henry’s violent temper.”

“Then how do you account for his identical twin who was adopted being as gentle as a lamb?”

There appears to be no argument to the belief that much of who and what we are stems from what we learned and how we learned it with our family of origin, Nature and Nurture entwined.

There is also a growing body of evidence that people in recovery who hold themselves up to high standards and scrutiny change themselves to varying degrees--some virtually re-invent themselves--and all for the good of themselves, their family, and society.

This suggests that if anyone wants to witness exemplary family values, drop in at the home of someone who is committed to a recovery program and/or who honors the concepts but does so independently of organized gatherings.

One of the most obvious virtues practiced automatically in that home is mutual respect. That, of course, is contingent upon having self-respect. In turn, those who didn’t grow up with it discover they can develop it through their individual and/or collective recovery efforts.

Recovered people have trust in themselves. Mutual trust--dependability--is a given in healthy families. So are other values such as honor, respect, consideration, truthfulness.....

A family is only as strong as its weakest member. Challenges is one of the many tools being used to strengthen not just the identified “weak link” but all the family--remember all the links are affected--to be advocating a resurgence of family values.

This means that starting with next month’s March issue, since its beginning in 1992, Challenges has been one voice in a growing chorus that is actually doing something about bringing the definitions of “family” and “values” closer to being synonyms, not antonyms, and definitely not an oxymoron.

*Oxy=sharp, pointed, acute, acid. Moron=a very foolish or stupid person; highest classification above imbecile and idiot. Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which opposite or contradictory ideals or terms are combined, e.g., thunderous silence.