A Turning to Friends and Family

Sometimes we may become weary of the sameness of our surroundings and feel that we should like to get away from familiar people and places. But often this is only for a brief time. Often the best part of going away is getting back
Our children likewise sometimes tire of the sameness of surroundings, of the supervision of the same people, and of seeing the same places, and may have their periods of feeling that they have outgrown the family, and familiar friends, and sometimes may seem to resent sharing plans and confidences. But these also are usually but passing periods; and sooner or later, solidly in the lives of most of us, there comes an appreciation for family, for friends, and an awareness of what it would mean to be isolated from others, especially from loved ones.
This families learn; this most of us sooner or later learn: that life is full of much meaning because of sharing with, of being with, of doing with. Men were meant to live with family and friends, and in company and co-operation with one another. Others enrich our lives, if only by being there, if only by our knowing that they are there.
In his essay On Friendship Cicero commented on the need of others when he said: “…if it were possible that some god should carry us away from these haunts of men, and place us somewhere in perfect solitude, and then should supply us in abundance with everything necessary to our nature, and yet take from us entirely the opportunity of looking upon a human being… who could steel himself to endure such a life? Who would not lose in his loneliness the zest for all pleasures?” And then he added that even if a person were to witness even the most glorious of sights and scenes, even if he were to “ascend to heaven,” it would give him but “small pleasure” unless he “had some one to whom to tell what he had seen.”
And when our children feel that they would like to pull away into their own circle of association, we need for the moment not be too concerned (provided it is wholesome association), for such feelings run in cycles, and overtake most of us at times, but sooner or later there is a homeward turning, a turning to friends and family, and an awareness that to be rich and full in its experiences, in its confidences, life is something to be shared.