Mary Kenny
Ireland is to have a referendum in the near future on liberalising the divorce law, and if other countries are an example of how that usually pans out, easier and quicker divorce will very probably follow.
The arguments for more liberal divorce are simple: why force a couple to stay together when they are unhappy? If a marriage is over, why prolong the agony? And why should the state arbitrate on when a divorce can take place? Surely it’s up to the individuals themselves.
Yet, I so often hear radio interviews with a homeless person which begin with the narrative that “Joe/Joanna became homeless when his/her relationship broke up”. The social services are then blamed for not providing housing and other support for the person afflicted by homelessness.
Homelessness is certainly a social and economic problem that can befall people through no fault of their own – bad luck, poverty and the sheer unavailability of affordable housing.
But the problem is also increased and enlarged by marital and family breakdown.
If society is expected to pick up the pieces when a marriage or partnership dissolves, then society does, surely, have some say in the conditions of dissolution or divorce.
Marital relationships are complicated, and a rigid application of the law doesn’t always help the family, either.
In a controversial case before the Central Criminal Court this week, a man was jailed for three years for the rape of his wife – even though the wife subsequently said that she doesn’t want him to go to prison: that she forgives him: and that he is a good father to their children. The wife said: “I really do need my husband with me to be able to build a future for my children.”
The law is the law so he has to serve his sentence: but human relations are complex, and sometimes marriage – and the family – need to be supported by society, rather than torn further apart.
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We can help dig our way out of environmental catastrophe
During World War II there was a successful government propaganda campaign in Britain called ‘Dig For Victory’. This urged the population to grow as much of its own food as possible, so as to save on imports.
It made a big impression, and in these days of concern about climate change, it might be useful to revive that idea. Ireland imports nearly all its potatoes, mostly from Cyprus. Why not use the problems of a looming Brexit to encourage more home-grown food – especially potatoes, which grow so easily in Irish soil?
I am told by those who have a patch of praties in their back garden that nothing tastes as delicious as a potato freshly taken from the ground before cooking.
On a wider point, too many airmiles are used to fly vegetables (and flowers) from one part of the globe to another – veggies and other edibles which could quite easily be cultivated in the home country.
The wartime slogan could be adapted to ‘Dig for Sustainability’: help the planet, save money, promote self-sufficiency, and eat healthy fresh food…
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Life’s not the same old story any more
Confucius taught deference to elders as a primary rule of life, which has given the Far East a tradition of respect for the elderly.
Japan shared that Confucian tradition, but today it has the oldest population in the world and problems are arising.
One of the most startling is a crime wave among oldsters: nearly 20% of prison inmates in Japan are now pensioners, as compared to 6% in the US.
Many of these oldsters are imprisoned for quite minor crimes and among elderly women prisoners, nine out of ten are behind bars for petty shoplifting.
It is becoming evident that many oldies are deliberately choosing to get themselves arrested because prison life offers a community experience. They’re lonely. They either have no family, or the family has lost contact.
Between 1985 and 2015, there was an increase of 600% of older persons living alone.
In chokey, the oldsters are looked after and they form bonds with others. There’s plenty of community activity, even if it is a little regimented: communal exercise, communal singing, communal eating.
When they serve their sentence and leave prison, unfortunately, their families may shun them, as there is a stigma attached to a jail sentence. So they re-offend and get banged up once again.
The loss of community is seen in all the developed countries along with its woeful companion, loneliness, and its other sad causality – low birth rates.