Family Values

I was challenged by something I read to define and understand what family values means to me. With all the political rhetoric being tossed around, it seems more important than ever for me to find my own meaning.


There are the traditional families; mother, father, children. There are the unmarried father, mother, children. There is the married couple with no children. The same sex couple that is unmarried. Same sex couple that is married. The same sex couple with children. There are single people either by choice, widowhood, or divorced with children. There is the extended family. There is family connected by a cause, an interest, a passion, or a shared experience. There is the human family. All of these fall into my definition of family.

I believe the definition of family and family values is personal and should be decided by each person or family individually. This is something that should not be regulated by our government or politicians. It should also not be regulated by our religions. The founders of all of our major religions were kind, forgiving and accepting beings... Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, God. Are we saying that they were wrong? That we (religions) know better than they did? If so, then why even follow a religion?

And the founders of our country stated that we ALL have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As long as no one is getting hurt, then the government... the politicians... should stay out of it.

Everyone has the right to pursue happiness in their own way and decide their own family values. I personally have my traditional family, a spiritual family, an extended biological family, and of course the human family. Some of those families even overlap.

If we're REALLY a free nation, let "We The People" decide for ourselves our own definition of family and family values as long as it doesn't infringe on anyone else's freedom.

Love, Paula