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[Michael Czeiszperger <michael AT czeiszperger.org>]

On Apr 18, 2005, at 2:18 PM, Jim Allman wrote:
> I too would be interested to see if someone's managed to rank 
> different types of family in utilitarian terms. Or perhaps we could 
> skip the generalizations about "typical" families of any stripe, and 
> just reward positive behaviors. But what? Raising successful, 
> self-sufficient children seems pretty rewarding already, and vice 
> versa.

In my experience the long rants about the dissolution of the family has 
more to do with independence and mobility.  100 years ago it was a lot 
more difficult to just pick up and move somewhere, and people tended to 
stay in one spot, along with the rest of the family.  Now its 
relatively easy to move your family anywhere, so extended families get 
scattered all over the country making it a lot more difficult to give 
assistance to family members in need.  In fact, with the job situation 
today, where whole industries change rapidly with globalization, moving 
for job reasons has become practically a requirement.

___________________________________________________________________
michael at czeiszperger dot org  |  "Kindness knows no shame"
Chapel Hill, NC USA              |      -- S. Wonder