Chesterton on family

The set of quotes in this recent spate of posts come from an edited volume by Alvaro de Silva called "Brave New Family". Here's a great quote from de Silva:

It used to take courage--indeed, it was the act of courage par excellence--to leave the comforts of home and family and go out into the world seeking adventure. Today there are fewer places to discover, and the real adventure is to stay at home...Nothing probably requires more courage, determination, and spirit of adventure.

Amen, brother! Given the flexibility of my schedule, I'm sometimes tempted to run away from the battle and leave it to my wife! But "the silence of Adam" in Genesis 3:6b helps me stay on task-- to avoid a common problem for men.


Back to Chesterton with a quote from Heretics:

...some sages of our own decadence have made a serious attack on the family. They have impugned it, as I think wrongly; and its defenders have defended it, and defended it wrongly. The common defence of the family is that, amid the stress and fickleness of life, it is peaceful, pleasant, and at one. But there is another defence of the family which is possible, and to me evident; this defence is that the family is not peaceful and not pleasant and not at one.

Hilarious, but true. The value of family, in part, is in its ironic diversity-- and its ability to prep us for whatever craziness we'll encounter in the world.