Sir:  “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society. lt follows that any choice and decision with regard to the size of the family must irrevocably rest with the family itself and cannot be made by anyone else.” – United Nations.
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The family is an important unit of any society. A family is like a domestic church. lf a good virtue is not found in a family, there is no way it can be found within the society. Society begins with you. Anything and everything about the family is worth emulating. Every neglect in the family, as a parent, you have a price to pay. The neglect of the family by parents and the government calls for urgent attention.

God gave us the family as a model of true love and living. A place where one can find consideration for others; slow to find faults; perseverance; willingness to overlook many things; tenderness; understanding; faithfulness; love; holiness, etc.

Whatever is not practised at home, you would hardly find outside the family or society. Let love and spirituality bind or connect each family together. Every neglect in the family will cost you a lot! If you don’t take care of your family, you would greatly pay a price for it.

ln his Evangelium Vitae, Saint John Paul 11 speaks of the family as the sanctuary of life. For this reason, the Vatican Council 11 calls the family the Ecclesia domestica (domestic Church). The parents on the other hand, have the duty to train their children in the way of the Lord. lf you can be a Christian or Muslim at home, you can be one anywhere. And the family remains the nucleus of the church; the place we learn the faith and other values.

When St. Augustine wondered what joy to live in a happy family! His words:”This joy is marvellously inexpressible and inexpressibly marvellous.” It is a joy beyond one’s thinking, imagination and control. Like the family model of Jesus, Mary and Joseph where parents work hard, help each other, understand and accept each other. There is mutual respect and love there! Mary and Joseph, as spouses respect each other, Jesus respects them for even though He is God. He is subject to them, and Mary and Joseph respect Jesus.

As Cleverland Amory says: “A good family . . . is one that used to be better. There is no doubts about this! The Holy family is a lead example that every other families need to look -up to. There is nothing like good, comfortable and understanding home. A good home is the place where children obey and respect their parents; where children are educated and brought up with love, fear of God, sincerity, dignity and authenticity.’’

“The reason parents no longer lead their children in the right direction is because the parents aren’t going that way themselves,” says Frank McKinney Hubbard (“Kin Hubbard.”
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There is the need for them from every calculated sides and from every calculated angle to lead their children; whether they are going that way or not; provided it is a right way for the children and the parents.

“The mutual and universal dependence of individuals who remain indifferent to one another constitutes the social network that binds them together,” says Karl Marx (1818 -1883), who is the founder and father of Communism.

Also, it is good to emulate those virtues found in the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. There is no alternative in the Holy Family; even other ways are fake and ignorance.

No society or family as the nucleus of civilisation has ever been found without a government. As Pope Leo X111 stated it in Sapiential Christians, on January 10,1890 that: “The family may be regarded as the cradle of civil society, and it is in great measure within the circle of family life that the destiny of a state is fostered.”Undoubtedly, the union of the family lies in love.

But today, what is the government of President Bola Tinubu offering the Nigerian family? Inflation, kidnapping, corruption, terrorism and the rests! When people are hungry, every little thing sparks fire. lt is by the special Grace of God that so many families are alive today. The government should try in everyway possible to ameliorate the suffering and hardship of the masses.

As Pope Pius XI: Casti Connubi December 31,1930 put it:”The family is more sacred than the state, and men are begotten not for the earth and for time, but for heaven and eternity.”

We were convinced the government had made a terrible mess of both politics and economics in the name of removing oil subsidy. President Tinubu was even yet to sat on seat, brought down on us innocent Nigerians who knew next to nothing both economic war and great depression that lead to hyper-inflation which affect all-work of life.

Our commitment to life calls on us to act for peace, for equality, for social justice and for the government to bring down costs of living drastically. But act how? In what way? You try to think as clearly as you can about such questions. And the best way to do that is to struggle with thought on paper. Struggle is action, and it is in action that we begin to find out who we are, what we can do, what we become.

Surely the Nigerian people have that concern in mind – survival. And happily for the pursuit of peace, a sizable part of the Nigerian public no longer stays silent when it sees its government make mistakes in foreign, economic policies, etc. They react to the danger of repeating past errors. They know Nigerian leaders can be quilty of intrigue, deception, secretiveness, lawlessness. They learned that dissent has its positive side and should never be crushed. It was only when dissent over Vietnam rolled high enough to reach into Congress and change many minds there that the policy of president was obligated to change.
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We rediscovered the old belief that the truth will make us free. We must continue to say how we see things and speak out for what we believe. (As we just begin the year in earnest, let every family do a stocktaking and find his place in the scheme of life. Everyman is the creature of the age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the idea of the time, “says Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouel (1694- 1778.)

And again, Pope Pius XIl: Christmas Message (December 24,1942) offered this to the world that:”The origin and primary scope of social life is the conservation, development and perfection of the human being, helping him to realise accurately the demands and values of religion and culture set by the Creator for every man and for all mankind, both as a whole and in its natural ramifications.”

And the government under the leadership of President Tinubu should not forget that:”What is not good for the hive is not good for the bee,” as reminded by Marcus Aurelius (121- 180). May the Good Lord bless us now and always and our country – Nigeria throughout this year, 2025 and beyond. Amen!

• Obire Onakemu can be reached on 09044000546.
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