Family and Sociology and Time

y Poverty leads either to very weak family ties—when the burdens of living outweigh the joys and joylessness, hopelessness, and fear is passed on to the kids—or very strong ties—when immense gratitude builds up for the countless times one family member sacrifices for another in need. Such repeated sarifice and display of love builds trust. This is why, if we were poor, generalizations about povety ring hollow. There is much variation.

y There are many kinds of poverty, too. Poverty of the wallet, of the support system, of the spirit, of physical development, of beauty, of creativity, of the psychological openness, of the family, of love, of adventure, of reading, of thinking, of playing. Each person is his or her own exact "intersection" of all these things, moving through time, and, while it's true one's disposition can be traced to genes and social circumstance, one's quest is sui generis from a core awareness that is within.

y If you turn around and see you came from a weak or non-existent family structure, you had better create one from the assembled. A person needs a group. Paradox is that a group needs a person with interests both inside and outside the group, so family and other structures are always adjusting, strengthening, weakening as strangers come in and out of groups and alliances break and are formed. Many different group-based interests pull and shape a person and groups are strengthened by balancing balanced persons.