Culture and Family

Culture (Wen) and family are very important in Confucianism. I thought about the importance of these when I read this quote in the New York Times from the author Tom Perrotta (an old article, not a recent one):

Perrotta: "Speaking as a former teenage guy, the fact that you might someday get lucky was like the only thing getting you through those years. If you take that away I don't know what's left. It was the basic narrative of male adolescence."

Perrotta was expressing surprise that some teenagers today make an effort to be chaste.

A well educated and cultured young person has many sources of inspiration. The base life described by Perrotta is the result of a lack of culture. Culture enriches our lives. Fine music, poetry, good books, stimulating philosophy, and stimulating
conversation enlarge our humanity and expand our vistas.

A strong, loving family grounds a young person emotionally so he or she is not desperately seeking love and becoming misled by sexual passion.

I try hard to be a good parent and I believe the lessons of Kongzi and his students help me be a better father.

I see many applications of Kongzi's lessons in contemporary American life.

Robert

The article was "A writer's search for the sex in abstinence"
by Motoko Rich, Sunday Oct. 14, 2007, the Arts & Leisure section.