Nurturing Cultural Health It should come as no surprise that when people feel threatened, their behavior will become more defensive. However, what many modern cultures lack is a social construct that will teach, exemplify, allow and expect individuals to take responsibility for creating a warm, inviting cultural environment. This absentia of understanding is most notably reflected in the absentia of these types of conversations in our justice system. We bring "criminals" before a court, hyper-focus on an event in time, take only one step back in asking who perpetrated the act, and give only the option of the individual being innocent or guilty. If our culture is going to endure at all, we must step back from the microscope and ask more complex questions. Are we so short sighted that we cannot see the time-delayed Grenade Effect of placing no economic value whatsoever on the investment of stay-at-home caregivers such as moms or dads that spend nearly twenty years raising their children? The disproportionate amount of energy spent in discussing the provision of contraceptives as part of our health care initiatives has nothing to do with insurance companies. It has to do with the primal aversion to feeling powerless, as being "successful" in our culture is seen as a measure of financial independence. This quantitative version of success reinforces the ability and desire for individuals to focus on sterile numbers and does not at all promote or even lean in the direction of a healthy grasp of social-emotional values. What this does promote, however is the subconscious assumption that children are both a burden and a disorder, as their mere presence in our current model strips the stay-at-home parents of power (money), and any family that does not have money is subsequently viewed as being "unsuccessful." Rather than a QUANTitative standard of success, the sustainable and healthy society will have a QUALitative standard of success that views the social, emotional, developmental, and mental health of its inhabitants as one of the highest priorities. A culture that feels calm and safe will inherently be a much healthier place to live than one whose inhabitants constantly feel threatened.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 13:15:13 +0000
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