{"id":156222,"date":"2025-08-01T15:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=156222"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:32:17","slug":"the-vanishing-bond-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/the-vanishing-bond-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vanishing Bond"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Vanishing Bond<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

In response to the article \u201cThe Vanishing Bond\u201d Dodwell Keyt and I exchanged some interesting thoughts which I take pleasure to reproduce.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for the article. Yes, lifestyles have changed, the family bond is ailing and almost gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once, the family was the centre of life, where values were passed down, laughter was shared over meals, and comfort was found in simple presence. Today, that bond feels faint. Many now describe a growing emotional distance within their own families. What has happened to society?<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern life, for all its advancements, has pulled people away from the hearth. The digital age promised to connect us, yet it often distracts us from those sitting right beside us. Parents are busier than ever, juggling demanding work schedules, screens dominate evening hours, and children are raised more by algorithms than by elders. Extended families that once lived under one roof or nearby are now scattered across cities and continents. Sunday dinners, handwritten letters, and quiet conversations have been replaced by hurried texts and scheduled video calls.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it’s more than technology or distance,\u00a0it\u2019s a shift in mindset. Individualism has grown stronger, and the \u2018self\u2019 is often placed above the \u2018us.\u2019 While independence has its virtues, it has sometimes come at the cost of togetherness. Many young people now grow up without strong bonds to cousins, grandparents, or even siblings. The shared rituals that held families together, faith, meals, stories, struggles, are dissolving.<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say all is lost. In times of crisis, we still reach for one another. Family remains a deep longing in most hearts, even if its expression has changed. Perhaps what we need is not to go back in time, but to remember what family truly means: showing up, listening without judgment, being present.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe the question we should ask is not “what happened to society?” but rather, what can we do now, as individuals, to bring family back to the centre of life, one act of closeness at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every year in the past, I made it a point to visit every member of my family either the day before or on Christmas day; these were apart from my frequent visits during the year. but that has change, it seems the energies surrounding our planet have gone from togetherness to myself. The visits have become, a begging, ‘Do you have time to catch up for Christmas?’ rather than ‘I’m coming over, put on the kettle.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘It seems more like what do I get out of visiting \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, togetherness has almost faded to invisibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dodwell<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Charles,<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I have no objection to you sharing my email.<\/span><\/p>\n

After reading your message, I felt a real connection to your writing and felt compelled to respond. Perhaps that closeness has to do with<\/span><\/p>\n

age, or how we’re perceived as we grow older, I’m not entirely sure. Maybe the younger generation don’t care to mingle with us older folk as they don’t think we have little in common. Perhaps they are right.<\/span><\/p>\n

What I do know is that I rarely see my family these days. As you mentioned in your email, it was our parents who held us all together. We used to gather at Mum and Dad\u2019s place regularly, for Christmas, New Year, and other special occasions.<\/span><\/p>\n

But after they passed, that closeness we once shared seemed to fade with them. I still remember my parents and always will.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wrote a song for my mother’s 115th<\/sup> birthday<\/span><\/p>\n