A couple of notes on culture...

From a ZENIT interview earlier in the week (Christine Vollmer, president of the Alliance For The Family)

Vollmer: The natural cohesion and modeling which makes small children so secure and so happy, and which gives the adolescent a firm sense of identity and of belonging, has been progressively destroyed, first by urban living and comprehensive schooling. The absence of the father who works in a factory or an office contributes to this effect. And now mothers are also much less available in the home, rushing about, trying to "do everything." The ensuing need for children to identify with peers and television characters instead of with their parents is, I believe, at the bottom of the problems that surface when they become teen-agers." ...

Q: What would you recommend to parents today to help their children live counter-culturally?

Vollmer: I would recommend that they endeavor to live an intensely home-oriented life … to create their own family "culture," if you will. Children need to know they are unique and extremely important to their parents. And they love family rituals, such as meals, celebrations, family jokes and stories which are a source of bonding and binding. They like to know where their family came from, and how their forebears lived. The intrusion of the world of TV, music and "what everybody else does" is a siren-song that should be avoided. Children will always prefer to "go against the current" if they feel they are a solid team with close and loving parents. Children put in day care at an early age will naturally be less bonded and will follow the culture, which is the first world they will discover.

On a another note, which I think is also related to culture and connections, Destination Order comments about the lack of true letter-writing. I used to be a pretty good correspondent myself, but I write few letters anymore.