daniel chigunweFlora Teckie
Correspondent
The International Day of Families on 15 May is a reminder of the great and far-reaching influence the family has on individual well-being, as well as in creating better communities.
Family is where our vision and values for creating a better world can be nurtured. Unified and spiritually motivated families have a direct impact on the well-being of the wider community, the harmony of the nation, and ultimately, the healthy functioning of society. Strengthening the family is a prerequisite for development of a social order based on justice and unity.
According to the Universal House of Justice, the governing council of the Baha’i international community: “The family unit, the nucleus of human society, constitutes a space within which praiseworthy morals and essential capacities must be developed, for the habits and patterns of conduct nurtured in the home are carried into the workplace, into the social and political life of the country, and finally into the arena of international relations”.
As a microcosm of the human race, the family is a key instrument for establishing peace, through the encouragement of such virtues as love and unity, compassion and justice. Attitudes and behaviours learned in the home have a direct bearing on the order, prosperity, and peace in our communities and the world.
Family’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being
Healthy family relationships are as important for the happiness and contentment of each family member as they are for the well-being of the society. If loving, unified, vital, and joyful, a family can provide the ideal conditions for the well-being of its members in all facets of life — physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
According to the Baha’i Writings: “If love and agreement are manifest in a single family, that family will advance, become illumined and spiritual; but if enmity and hatred exist within it, destruction and dispersion are inevitable”.
The Baha’i Writings further state: “… where unity existeth in a given family, the affairs of that family are conducted; what progress the members of that family make, how they prosper in the world, their concerns are in order, they enjoy comfort and tranquillity, they are secure, their position is assured, they come to be envied by all”.
Unity, cooperation, and harmony in a family can be maintained in the balance of rights and responsibilities. All family members “have duties and responsibilities towards one another and to the family as a whole,” which “vary from member to member because of their natural relationships”.
Maintaining rights and prerogatives within a family ensures that respect is accorded to every member of the family, irrespective of gender or age. In a family, for example, girls and boys must be valued and given equal rights and opportunities in all fields of human endeavour. The observance of the equality of men and women is vital to the well-being, unity, and happiness in the family.
Unity in a family can be achieved when practices of control, competition, and excessive individualism and independence give way to those of equality, cooperation, universality, and interdependence. This transformation can take place when the individuals try to serve one another, while at the same time justice is the family’s guiding principle.
Values of tolerance, peace and social responsibility
A healthy family is outward-looking —not just focused on its own well-being — since each nuclear family is a unit of the whole human family.
It is within the family where the values of tolerance, peace and social responsibility can be initiated and taught; and it is in the family where a sense of responsibility and of values such as loving, caring and sharing, are developed.
It is within the family that the children can learn to associate with people of all races and religions, and appreciate the different cultures and the contributions of different people. It is within the family that they can be taught the concept of the oneness of humanity and to regard themselves as citizens of the world.
According to the governing council of the Baha’i international community: “Children must be so raised as to regard every soul, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, or any other affiliation, as a fellow human being and to hold dear the words [of Bahá’u’lláh] that capture the spirit of the age: “The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.” … The family unit provides an environment within which such lofty and world-embracing principles can be taught and nurtured. It is the matrix in which generation after generation can be reared in the conviction that the well-being of the individual is inextricably bound to the progress and well-being of others”.
Thus, families have a profound and far-reaching influence on human progress, on the transformation of our communities, and the creation of a better world.
λ Feedback [email protected] or [email protected]
Website: www.bahai.org
Online Reporter