Regularly at night on the BBC World Service Radio
I hear woeful reports from small places I would not know of
if I could sleep. Recently I heard the phrase
'A Conservative Patriarchal Society' used about
one unhappy traditional third world society (there
are many choose from) where marriage is arranged
for the son by his family. The most common outcome
of this arrangement is that the son dislikes his wife,
because she was his family's choice, not his.
And if he had made a.choice of wife
then his family would be violently contrary
towards both of them. As it is the wife becomes a drudge
for the family, and comes to hate marriage
because it gives her no life and no exit from life.
The long term agenda for the family is to dismember
the dependent family unit in order to adopt the children.
The husband is already primed to dump his wife
through a separation that favours him. The choice
made for the now ex-wife is to live alone in penury
as 'a used woman' in a 'shamed' rural community
with other ex-wives. I have learned of many lose-lose
situations in life, and I try daily to keep my mind sharp
and maintain my studies of how and why people share
their unhappiness. But on hearing this account on the BBC
I was struck afresh by the evil genius of traditions
which renew themselves by multiplying malcontent,
and sharpening beyond belief the pointlessness
of perpetuating poverty in the name of property.
No comments:
Post a Comment