Societal Trends
I want you to take a moment and ponder this question: How I am affected by current or societal trends regarding families? Many of you might say that you’re not affected by them at all but is that really true. I think in a way we are all affected, whether you yourself are, or it’s by a loved one.
I’ve personally seen the ripple effect that these societal trends have on individuals in my own family, problems like, cohabiting, divorce, premarital sex, birth rates, and the list goes on. To some, these problems don’t really seem like problems at all and to others, this is a major concern. We can see how people are adapting and willing to accept things without understanding the consequences or repercussions of these actions. Studies have shown that a lot of these, if not all current trends are having a negative outcome in our society.
Those who cohabit think that by living together before marriage they are less likely to divorce, when studies have actually shown that you are three times more likely to divorce if you cohabited before getting married, than if you didn’t live together. Three time more likely, is a huge percentage jump.
Divorce is another trend that people jump into faster than they should. There are certain situations where divorce is the best option for you and your family if there are things like abuse. Most of the time I think divorce happens due to the parent’s lack of motivation to try and fix things, or for selfish reasons. Divorce should be your last resort, not your first, especially if you have kids. My Husbands parents got divorced when he was just fifteen. This was devastating for him and his two sisters. The emotional trauma and stress these kids have been through is unbearable. This was ultimately caused by a parent’s selfishness; they didn’t think about how this was going to affect their family and now the kids are the ones paying for their actions. It’s been six years now since this all happened, and the kids are still suffering from the divorce. Since the parents live in the same city it’s a constant battle for time, the kids feel very caught in the middle and it can be mentally exhausting. And I know that lots of divorced kids experience the same thing. All of our choices have consequences, maybe we should stop and think about the outcome before we make a decision.
I only addressed two of the societal trends that I listed above, and we can already see the negative results. So why, you may ask, are these trends so popular? I think part of it is these options are convenient, and they all intertwine. It’s easier to live together than get married, it’s easier to have sex before marriage because we are living together, it’s easier to get divorced than to fix our problems, it’s easier to do things I want to do because I don’t have kids. All of these are connected to an emotional response, ‘this is how I feel, so I’m going to do it.’ It’s always going to be easier to do what we want, if we don’t take into consideration those around us and how it might affect them.
Trends are a powerful thing. We can get so caught up in what the world is doing that we forget what we value, what is most important. I think that we all should take the time to consider what things we can do to strengthen and fortify us and our families. Are we make the right choices regardless of what the world thinks or is doing? If you live in accordance with God and his commandments you will live a much happier life than what the world is living.
This is Our Happy Place 