Today, we seem far away from the days of barn raisings and church communities rallying around in a crisis. A crisis will demonstrate whether we have sold out to our culture about the nature of relationships. Most people today envision relationships as essentially contractual. If one of us breaches this contract, the relationship ends. As a result, most relationships are temporary, as one party eventually fails to maintain his or her contribution.
Most relationships are therefore also relatively shallow, since they are short and tentative.
Contract relationships are, unfortunately, even becoming normal for family life. Similarly, when parents age and become less able to contribute to the lives of their children, they may find that their children have little time for them. Brothers and sisters can grow apart emotionally and geographically and have very little reason to keep in touch with each other. Perhaps worst of all, some parents are capable of abusing and mistreating their own children when these children do not fulfill their parents' expectations. The weak, young, helpless and poor will suffer the most in a crisis.