Rebel With a Cause

            This week in Family Relations I learned about boys. :)   Sort of.   In class on Tuesday, while listening to a discussion about gender differences, I had a clarifying realization about a past experience that demonstrated to me just how valuable our gender differences are and why we should identify and encourage them instead of constantly dragging them through the mud of gender homogenization.   I would like to share my experience and subsequent clarification.             Last semester I was somewhat attracted to two guys.   We’ll call them Paul and Jake for privacy’s sake.   Because I’d had zero friends in the past seven or so years (and when I say zero, I’m talking zero, people; we lived in the middle of nowhere and I was homeschooled) I didn’t know what to do.   I liked both of them, I wanted to be friends with both of them, but ...

For class prep this week I was asked to answer a question about how my social class had affected my family life.   As I pondered the answer, I realized that my social class has impacted me less than what I believe and how I was raised has (my culture).   I’m not sure what my social status officially is, and I don’t care.   It’s what I believe that matters because it is what has made the real difference.   In class we discussed a video about a woman named Tammy who lived in a dumpy trailer with her two sons and walked 10 or 12 miles to work every day.   We talked about how her socioeconomic status affected her family.   Because she was a single parent and worked all day, she didn’t have the resources available to provide well for her children.   She didn’t have the money required to give them opportunities and she was rarely at home to supervise them or to provide emotional support.   Because of this there was little structure in her home. ...

            Family relations has been very impactful this week.   Or maybe it was just the week.   It was probably both.   The issues that I am currently dealing with are family-based.   The pain that I am going through is family-based.   The struggle to overcome certain negative habits is family-based.   And Family Relations is, you guessed it, family-based.   They are all intertwined, and they are all teaching me something.             I think the thing that impacted me the most happened in my Thursday class.   Brother Williams (our instructor) took four volunteers from the class and had them represent a family unit consisting of a mom, a dad, a 7-year-old, and a teenager.   They stood in front of the classroom and joined hands in a circle.   Brother Williams stood behind one person at a time and introduced a scenario (th...