Reply #71: One of the best things about the time I spent living in...

[LanternWaste]

One of the best things about the time I spent living in Mexico was the tightly-nit, close family structure. It was never uncommon to see three or even four generations out together, eating together, living together, living, laughing and living together...

But for some odd reason (the complete, absolute, and thoughtless embrace of consumerism I would guess), that type of family togetherness is (at best) laughed at in America, or (at worst) the middle generations are perceived as failures with the elder generation as parasites.

For my part-- it's a sad, sad day when, for whatever reasons, a person moves in with family and gets the knee-jerk label of "failure" by someone who has absolutely no hard knowledge of the circumstances.

I suppose that it's just as fair, just as valid, and just as nice to say, "..raise you to be a caring, family oriented person. And gathering from your circumstances and level of maturity you has been a failure in that regard."