It cannot be mere coincidence that both Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI had special words to say about the importance of family in their Christmas Day and New Year’s Day messages, respectively.
The Queen, in looking back at a year marked by adversity and tragedy in the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world, noted that “we often find strength from our families,” suggesting that family ties are at the core of wider relationships built around friendship and a sense of community. Indeed, she makes the salient point that “family does not necessarily mean blood relatives but often a description of a community, organisation or nation,” citing the Commonwealth as a prime example, in that it is “a family of 53 nations, all with a common bond, shared beliefs, mutual values and goals.” Her message was simple: it is family that binds us together and it is family that gives us the wherewithal to persevere in the most difficult of times.
The Pope’s message is also set against a backdrop of crisis and future uncertainty, and he focuses on the theme of “Educating Young People in Justice and Peace,” trusting that “the young, with their enthusiasm and idealism, can offer new hope to the world.” In this context, he stresses that “parents are the first educators” and that “the family is the primary cell of society… the first school in which we are trained in justice and peace.” The Pope therefore urges parents to be ever present for their children, in spite of the challenges of their responsibilities as breadwinners and the threat of fragmentation to which families are increasingly subject. He also calls on educators to remember their responsibility to provide a nurturing environment in which self-esteem and respect for others are recognised as the foundation for “the building of a more humane and fraternal society.”
The Pope, furthermore, appeals to politicians to support families and educational institutions in their mission, so that all children might be educated, and to ensure the viability of the family unit. In championing the value of the family in society, he also, in passing, manages to remind politicians of the importance of setting an example by giving young people “a transparent image of politics as a genuine service to the good of all.”
It is impossible to disagree with the verities contained in the two messages regarding family and education, even as we acknowledge the grim reality of our world today, in which we must confront a combination of global, regional and local crises.
In Guyana, as we shake off the after effects of the holiday season and as 2012 begins, no one can say for sure that this year will be better than the last. In addition to economic pressures, environmental degradation – particularly in our capital city – and the constant threat of flooding, public health concerns, the general lawlessness that breeds insecurity in homes and on the roads, among other challenges, we are now faced with political uncertainty. Meanwhile, the increasing pace of life, continuing economic hardship for many and migration are placing greater and unsustainable pressures on family cohesion. Little wonder then that the threat of social disintegration in the country seems to loom larger.
It has always been a crazy, stupid world and our young, fractious nation is especially vulnerable to the types of stress that cause things to fall apart and the centre not to hold. Perhaps we need to go back to basics, as it were. In this respect, the messages of the monarch and the pontiff are apposite.
We should focus more on our children and our families, as “a primary duty for society as a whole, for the sake of building a future of justice and peace,” as the Pope puts it. Politicians, religious groups, community leaders, village elders, youth and sports clubs, teachers, parents all have a role to play to reaffirm basic principles of good manners, mutual respect, cooperation, team spirit, national pride – a sense of family in the widest sense – so that we might build a united nation, with, in the words of the Queen, “a common bond, shared beliefs, mutual values and goals.” It is not too fanciful to state that the integrity of the nation depends, at heart, on the integrity of the family.
