TLC's Jon & Kate... living in a vaccuum 2009

I'm Just Wondering... how long this totally detached, individualistic, non-community culture can survive on this planet??

OK, yes, been on 'grand-baby watch' at my daughters house near Reno, and watching alot more cable/satalite TV than I normally do... no, we only have local basic service at our house (who needs more? I get to watch every Padre baseball game, and LOST when it's running!)...

... and I became acquainted with the TLC phenom "Jon & Kate", which any cable TV-goer knows is this show about a young couple (Jon and Kate... uhhh...) and their 8 kids... living a pretty lower-upper-class lifestyle in the eastern USA... yeah, they have a Hummer and pretty nice house and clothes... so the $$$ ain't the issue for them... of course, the TLC thing is filmed like a reality show, and I'm sure Jon and Kate get a nice bit of $$ for the gig...

Anyway, the shows I saw were all about two young married people in total angst about their lives and their marriage... Kat e weeping and weeping, "I can't do this anymore..." but a constant "we are keeping it together for the kids" (and there are 8, so they must have had some marrital bliss along the way... )

... and in the last week of June, announced that they have filed for divorce... and TLC is trying to plumb the viewing public if their ratings would be high IF they continue to film the show during the break-up... or will there be a back-lash against TLC for being so shark-ish and continue to film, using the plight of the children to grab for ratings... I vote for shutting off the cameras...

ANYWAY, it made me wonder... what are the root problems with the JON & KATE situation???

Here's what I suspect... during the shows I saw, I viewed a very, very, VERY thin level of relationship outside their little bubble... no significant flow of family around them (they admittedly live away from their families, with the occasional and perfunctory visits annually), no strong social group around them (friendships are very neat and tidy and 'clink wine-glasses'... but not very real or involved)... no church or real faith-based group contact...

For my part, JON & KATE are about the real, 2009-ish couple that have 'everything'... and a totally isolated, non-community, sterile, modern-times nuclear family... and it's all melting down!!!

I'm not suggesting some quick solution to their terrible problem... it is heart-breaking.... but it seems to be a poster-child example of what the 'end result' of our Western culture is heading for... the 'nuclear family' idea of the New Mellinium leads to a smoldering heap of radio-active waste that is toxic to human life!!!

"It takes a village to raise a child" does not mean the American cul-de-sac of a million-dollar home and SUV, and nobody is really relating... or being all nice and PC and civil... but very, very fractured in reality

"It takes a village..." does not mean a quaint little church group that meets on Sunday, shakes hands, listens to some nice sermon and goes off, not to be all intertwined together the rest of the week...

Jon & Kate (and children) are the normal outcome of non-relationship culture.

I'd like to suggest that "It takes a village to raise a child" be grafted together with "We are all in this together" and the proverbial phrase of my fav TV show, "Live together, die alone".

Jon and Kate and kids... I'm praying for you to find a real community of peeps for you. Yes, it's all messy and there are tempers and bad dispositions... but "It takes a village, we are all in this together, and definitely, it's live together, die alone!"