Family and family values

A family and family values in all countries in the world have always underlied of any society. Independently of cultural peculiarities, children were born, brought up and grew in families, gradually adopting the experience and traditions of the older generation, becoming authorized representatives of its nation.

Being a primary institute of upbringing and establishment of a person, a family passes a rising child not only knowledge, but forms her mindset and world perception in such a manner, that every person, when becoming a grown-up, would feel the responsibility not only for herself, but also for the lives of people around her. Namely in a family we learn to care for neighbors, trust, love, express our feelings and emotions correctly, be fair and honest, live in a group and put the public interests above the interests of a stand-alone personality.

Of course, somebody would say, that not all families are ideal; somebody would even exemplify a negative experience from her life. But we have to understand, that a family as an institute in general promotes the development namely those qualities in a person, hence in a society. And parents, and grandparents, meaning well to their children and grandchildren, realize, that only by raising honorable and nice people, they will sew up a secure retirement to themselves. And this is normal: adults care about children, and grown-up children start taking the responsibility for already having become elderly parents and grandparents.

But what earlier seemed to be a manifest truth, today is being placed in doubt by the many.

In most Western countries are already legalized same-sex marriages, a juvenile system is implemented,  the link between generations is artificially broken, family rights are replaced by private and individual rights. The results of these transformations are obvious: Western civilization comes down in terms of moral and dies out, even in spite of the migrant influx, seduced by the high-level of material security.

Considering that globalization process is objective, it would be naïve to decide, that Russia can stay on the sidelines of these processes. Everybody knows the morale of the proverb “it is no business of mine”. Through different non-governmental organizations, mass-media and mass culture today the Russian society is being attempted to introduce same initiatives, which were successfully realized in the Western world.

The problems of technocratic civilization claim us to develop a new understanding of the reality. A persons’ estrangement, a constant tension in the relationships with artificially created external world, worldview cataclysms should be overcome. In searching for the answers of these vivid questions, we look narrowly not only in an observable now, but in the remote past of humanity as well. And here, in the history, resorting namely to traditional culture allows to see examples of such attitude towards life and the person itself, which main principles can help to produce the new type of modern relationships as inside the society, so with yourself.

Nowadays a family is under the full-scale attack.

With the increasing frequency on TV (and on Russian TV in particular) you can hear claims, that a family it is not necessarily a union of a man and a woman, but can be a union of two men, or women. In movies and TV shows among main positive heroes regularly figure pederasts and lesbians, and the image of a traditional family is laughed at and being brought into discredit, replaced by egoistic ideals of “life at one’s leisure”. From the screens, and meaning broadly from the mass culture, positive mother and father’s images disappear, you don’t meet people, defending sobriety and chastity on TV screens, instead like anything a theory of “civilized drinking” and platitude are being propagandized. In the normative documents, accepted at the governmental level, indistinct terms of the “family” concept are being given.

We estimate corresponding conducts as task-oriented attack with appliance of “soft power” technologies on the nations (Russian nation in particular). By that reason in its activity “What is Good” project appears from the position of traditional family values, regarding the “family” concept solely as a union of a man and a woman, implying children birth and parenting.

Speaking about the traditional family values, we should uncover the main terms, which, by our opinion, inseparably connected with the process of person’s upbringing in a family:

• Hard work
• Honesty
• Courage
• Loyalty
• Kindness
• Truth
• Conscience
• Measure
• Love
• Faith

Hard work

The word “hard work” itself, i.e. the love for work, already contains the correct attitude, which each person should form in herself and support towards the business she does. Hard work implies, that work – is not only a tool of satisfaction of  material needs of a person, but the deep inner demand of a person, put behind its very nature and leading her to the moral development. A work, as it may be – managemental or industrial – ennobles a person, develops her talents and abilities, rises on the whole new levels not only economically, but mentally as well. Its power is huge and vivifying.

In this respect the work differs from the labor. The love to work, understanding it’s high importance are very essential for living a healthy, worthy life. Same is true in a greater scale – a society, in which work is valued, lives safely, and exists in a state of continuous development, economic and mental.

In days gone by, not as good in terms of comfort and consumer wealth, the necessity of work was more obvious, than now. Nowadays the attitude towards work from the common mass philosophy has noticeably changed for the worse: the current reality offers different parasitic types of existence. The detrimental tendency of that is being strengthened the parallel wide rollout the idea of idleness through the modern mass culture. Different popular TV series about schoolers, students and doctors are glad to entertain its audience with love peripetia, funny situations, heroes’ conflicts, whatsoever, anything but picturing a working person, although amicably exactly her should be up front: a schooler, a student, a doctor – are primarily workers. In a modern mass philosophy a strong work ethic as one of the highest life values has obviously faded and has not being cultivated not only with past fundamentality and scope, but anyhow at all. Today work is not being promoted in the mass media and culture as an important part of human’s life, unfairly left on the backstage in a role of some unpleasant moment on a way to success, with which one has to resign.

However, the truth is still the same as it used to be: work and the admission of its value in a form of hard work – are obligatory conditions of successful development of material and moral life and happiness of a single person, a single family and the whole society in general.

Honesty

In a perception of many people, the meaning of the word “honesty” comes down to a necessity of always telling the truth. However, an honest person – is the person, who does not palter with truth, and in whose actions there is no lucrative impulse.

In those family, where parents are used to be honest with their children, prevails harmony and understanding. Indeed if there is no lie, then there are no serious causes for conflicts or quarrels.

At the same time, honesty towards the others begins with honesty during the dialogue with yourself. Learning to become honest towards yourself – is a base for a moral development. And, of course, only an honest person, living in harmony with her conscience, can be truly happy.

Courage

As practice shows, to make the first step and being moving, frequently it is not enough to choose the goal correctly and even to have a right understanding, how to realize it.  One has to have courage for this. It helps to overcome fear, take on the responsibility and move along the path that has been charted. Courage – is one of the most important volitional powers, inherent to a person.

The courage upbringing should start from the childhood. Encouraging children for independent acts, taking on responsibility, leaving rational freedom of action, we help them learning to control their emotions, develop determination and ability to make right decisions independently from having fears. Courage underlies in such ideas as bravery, masculinity, daring and valor. From the courage the readiness to defend interests of the loved ones, one’s business and the homeland arises.

Loyalty

When we are talking about a family, loyalty – is an antipode of depravity and a perpetual satellite of true love. Today we are often being tried to persuade from the TV screens, that loyalty – is an act of bravery, which though inspires respect, but deprives you the “novelty” and “sweets of life”. In fact, loyalty – is the only norm of family relationships, which allows creating a strong and happy family, based on trust and readiness to be with each other through foul and fair. And what is often being replaced by euphemisms “thirst for novelty” and “sweets of life”, – it is the most frequent the way of destruction and degradation, the way downslope.

Loyalty tempers the strength of mind, helps standing against all temptations and seductions, serves as collateral to trust, and provides a backbone in life and love. It is the one of the best qualities, characterizing a man-soldier and a woman-preserver of the heath. Loyalty at the same time – is a very multifaceted concept, revealing itself in such expressions like “loyalty to the word”, “fidelity to duty”, “faith to yourself”, “loyalty to tradition”, and, of course, “allegiance to the flag”.

The true loyalty to motherland showed soldiers, who defended Russia during the Great Patriotic War. The soldiers sacrificed themselves, went to sure death, bore any hardships, but had not betrayed. Today the war in mostly informational, but on this war as well wins the only one, who will keep the loyalty to her country, her nation and those human ideals, which make us people.

Kindness

The ability to distinct good from evil, right from wrong and conscious wish to be kind lies at the bottom of human’s morality. That action can be called kind, which makes the world better, helps the society to give on a way crisis-free and harmonious development. An evil action – is that directed to the opposite side, and makes the world worse, leading to its end. This means, that a person should weigh each action of hers with that effect it does on bystanders and which consequences drags.

From this viewpoint it would be incorrect to argue that there is no good without an evil, or that the evil has always been, and there is nothing to do about it. Even though the evil exists in our world, however, each person’s debt is to strive her interests and deeds to the good, i. e. be kind.

Truth

Truth – is the initial philosophic category. It is an estimative category of any incoming information to us as well, the essence of this estimation – a correspondence the given information to the image, event of process, flowing in a universe at the given moment of time.

One of the main themes of proverbs and sayings is the theme of inevitableness of the truth, that the truth will sooner or later become known. The imminence of the truth revelation makes pointless any lie or injustice. And moreover, the truth – is the best foundation for a family life building, only honest and trustful relationships will make family ties firm as steel and won’t be afraid of any hardships.

Conscience

A conscience – is one of the most important concepts, underlining the mental side of a human’s life. The conscience is called the inner compass of a person, leading her direction she should follow. From the spiritual position the conscience is being understood as an innermost connection between a human and God.

The conscience – is that inner condition, which you can’t buy for money, can’t change by any outer displays and factors: a personal beauty, a new dress. And moreover useless to fight with this “voice of good” inside you – it only becomes louder from this. There is the only thing you can do towards your conscience: keep it clean, i.e. follow its call, meaning act correctly (truth be told, honestly).

Measure

Russian civilization is sometimes called a civilization of measure for a reason. Apart from the West, which always chases for material values, and the East, which on its way of mental perfection sometimes is ready to forget about today’s life, here only the moderation in all things is always good.

Throughout the rich history Russia was ordinary brought in extreme, repeatedly we were at death’s door, but the feeling of measure has always helped to correct mistakes in time and restore the lost balance, herein not only in our land, but on neighbors’ too. Perhaps, this is our mission…

Love

A TV today tries to form in the audience an adverse apprehension about love, as of passion, feelings and emotions outburst, which are able to turn any person in a “love slave”, raise her up atop of blessing or fling in a condition of depression. But love in an intrinsical meaning of this word can’t be “evil”, “corrupt”, “insane” or “one-way”. All listed – are just stereotypes, which mostly describe affections based on sexual instincts, that the sense of love.

Faith

A faith – is one of the thinnest, scarcely perceptible and at the same time very important concepts in human’s life. Every person, either being aware of it or not, follows in her actions some personal system of beliefs, formed throughout the whole life and always opened to further confirmation, or vice versa, changes. What a person believes in, defines again and again her steps, determines and the whole her life in general.

The faith is being characterized by the closest connection with a constructive principle, with an action. At first, on a reason step a person believes in something, what she is convinced to, and then as a result – acts or stands still. If a person, for example, believes, that she is needed somewhere (in a family, in a group, in a country), then it will be so, because she will inevitably confirm her faith by further real actions. If she believes that a life is useless, then it will be so for her – she will realize that for herself, starting from her faith.

The same is true in an opposite way – a faith in a special meaning of her life or a faith in a high importance of her as a citizen of a country will obligatory be turned into reality.

Therefore, a debt of each person is to find powers in her and to find the time to think of something, she believes in and in the name of what she is living.

To conclude the above

There is only to add, that values for each person, their special enlistment and combination, are the foundation for building the general worldview, personal development, choice of one’s goals and meanings, and cause a production of deeply individual “code” of life’s rules. Namely the values underlie the mental profile of everyone and throughout the whole life appear as sometimes almost unconscious, but powerful landmarks in any life choices and decisions.

In today’s day the total loss of clear moral guides is happening. This process, having evidently controlled character, causes not only some social decay, but a deep disorientation of many people in questions of personal reasons for being, self-understanding and understanding the others.

Turing to comprehension of the generations’ experience in building value-conscious ideology and a solid position in understanding of what is a norm can become starting points on a way of attainment the feeling of completeness and meaningfulness of life for each person. And this, in its turn, will give benefits as for the development of the society in general, so for the satisfactory feeling of life in any of us.

Members of the project «What is Good»

Translated by Daria Egorova