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Before the 1996 election,  Hillary Clinton had published a book about children growing up.  The title was “It Takes A Village  and Other Lessons Children teach us”. Dole in his campaign countered with the slogan, “It Takes a Family”. Not a big difference unless you’re making a campaign speech, then you have to be careful.

At the other end of this perspective is  our current pandemic isolation. 

We live alone. Knowledge views this as a social statistic; wisdom tells us it is a social disaster, and our cultural practices make it worse. Even just a few years ago, family members could play board games, visit with neighbors, take walks and chase the dog. Now we sit together on a sofa or couch and ignore others by looking at a television screen.

We don’t get together and when we do, we’re apart.