A happy family is but an earlier heaven…. George Bernard Shaw
Small family, Happy family (Chhota Parivar-Sukhi Pariwar) & Hum Do Hamare, these two jingles coined by the administration had changed the family planning scenario in India over the years… But it’s ironical that in spite of being the first country to adopt a national policy limiting the size of family, India may overtake China in terms of population by 2034. At the time of independence, there were 345 million Indians. The world took 454 years to go from 345 million in 1310 AD to a billion, but India may take just 52 years.
Looking at the above facts and figures one wonders as to what would be the societal structure in a country that takes the burden of population of a billion people? Sadly, the situation is quite grim, because today we see fewer families and more individuals living their lives on their own terms with an ‘I care a dam attitude’ which is quite common in the metropolis. Our forefathers were brought up with strong family values, but with passing time and ever-changing scenarios, today those core values have been left behind to adopt new so-called modern values.
It’s so unfortunate that today very few of us know the importance of living or growing up in a family. One must understand a fact that a family is the first school where the literate and the illiterate have got their first lessons in the art of living and in values, traditions, customs and conventions. Also in a family, everyone feels secured and protected. Everyone feels strong because of the strength of the family. Everyone feels that others welcome him or her. Everyone feels a kind of support, sustenance and encouragement. It is, therefore, essential to help and facilitate the growth of good supportive families for the foundation as a family tradition rather than promoting individualistic lifestyle for the sake of next Gen & future to come. There is some kind of a magnetic force that holds the members of a family together. In other words, it is a feeling of closeness and belongingness in the mind of every person and the feeling of acceptance on the part of the whole group that gives it the nomenclature of a family. This feeling of acceptance is always based on the feeling of mutual love, loyalty and trust and also understanding and accommodation.
Today we see that the families are splitting up because certain values like mutual affection, love & genuine caring that make a family work are vanishing because everyone wants to live an independent life without any kind of family interference. However, if the younger ones continue to give regard to the elders and the elders continue to give love to the younger ones, then the family life would continue to be undisturbed and everyone will act in a responsible manner. But, if each one gives up their responsibility and the feeling of concern for others, then cracks would appear and get deeper. Hence in order to preserve the family structure & tradition, one needs to have tolerance, sobriety & humility because family is very essential to civilised life, be it a spiritual family or the society as a family or of nations.
Hence we should consider family as a place where we can work for physical, mental, moral and spiritual growth and can create an environment where others also can grow. A family can change a person into a great leader, disciplinarian, soldier, criminal or scholar by encouraging or discouraging, supporting or condemning certain positive or negative traits in him. We must, therefore, pay attention to the transformation of families because families are the breeding grounds of good or bad human beings. So, let us awaken people to observe the family values such as mutual love, trust, acceptance, accommodation, consideration and care for the wellbeing of others, the spirit of adjustment, tolerance, responsibility and cooperation because if these family values flourish, the nation and the whole humankind will flourish too.
