The Washington times., 1937-08-12
Listen
World!
By Elsie Robinson
DO YOU LOVE YOUR
RELATIONS?

There isn't a doubt that
domestic difficulties cause more
misery than all other social
problems put together. If any
business on earth tried to run
on such cockeyed theories as
motivate most homes, it would
be bankrupt within week.
Trouble is our notions of fam
lily life are all wrong from the
start. From the time we can
toddle, We are taught that men,
bers of a family "just naturally"
love and understand each other.
Those rare creatures who don't
are simply abnormal monsters.
AS a consequence, we enter life
chockfull Of romantic expecta-
tions-and forthwith face one
checking surprise after another.
Strangers 1
Pleasing
Take your own case. You
were prepared to find strangers
tireSome and difficult, even
treacherouS. But family life,
you we're assured, would compen-
safe for all this, would heal all
wounds, dry all tears. Well,
here you are-and what do you
see? Strangers are, for the
most part, surprisingly pleasing
and agreeable, even highly con-
genial.
BUT WHERE, OH WHERE,
IS ALL THIS SPONTANEOUS
DEVOTION, INSTRUCTIVE
UNDERSTANDING AND UN-
sWERVING LOYALTY YOU
HAD BEEN LED TO EXPECT
FROM YOUR KIN?
Some, it is true, fill the bill.
But others seem utterly indif-
ferent to you, if not downright
hostile. Why, lookit the way
they criticize every little thing
you do. ). NEEDLE in your affairs
take advantage of your good
nature. Is that any way for a
family to act to one Of its own
members?
Or perhaps it's your fault, not
theirs. You get along swell
with John, but-though you'd
die rather than admit it'd
does bore you and Ellen gets
your goat, and you're darned if
you know what Alice is all about.
AS for your father and mother
well, maybe they are all right in
their way, but they certainly
aren't YOUR idea of what a
mother and father should be!
But this shouldn't be, you say
to yourself. Imagine not liking
ones own sisters and brothers,
not admiring ones own father
and mother! There must be
something horribly wrong some
where! Something lacking, per-
haps, in yourself.
But there isn't! Families Ore
like that. The only thing that's
GnisS-the thing responsible for
all domestic misery and mis-.
underStGng is our absurd concep.
ton of family life. No group of
normal naortGlS could possibly
live up to that conception.
THERE is NO REASON ON
EARTH WHY WE SHOULD
LOVE, UNDERSTAND, OR AID
M1RE ALL OUR RELATIONS,
OR WHY THEY Should LOVE,
UNDERSTAND, OR ADMIRE
US IN RETURN.
Trying to
Buck Nature
Relatives are individuals be-
fore they are relations; indi.
vidualS with different ideas and
ideals. There's no harm in that.
You work daily with people who
are "all different people whose
opinions do not agree with yours,
who do not always understand
you, who sometimes bore and ir-
ritate you.
Yet, you get along finely be-
cause you EXPECT and AC-
CEPT those differences and
ADAPT yourself to them cheer
fully and Sensibly. Under such
conditions, your very differences
make your associations more in
teresting and stimulating.
But, when it comes to your
blood kin, you ignore these
natural facts. disregard these
fundamental rights and try to
force them all to fit into an i'm
possible, fairy-tale pattern of
conduct. And it won't work. OF
course, it won't. You're trying
to buck nature.
WHAT THIS COUNTRY
NEEDS IS A FEW GOOD MAN
NERS IN THE HOME.