Mike Pence, The Man Behind The Monster

And He Is Still Married

A few years ago, I was listening to a sermon in which the pastor mentioned some rules he has in place for his marriage. One of them just so happened to be that he did not spend time alone with other women. If he was headed toward a business meeting in which someone didn’t show up and he ended up dining alone with a woman, he would call his wife to let her know and move on. At the time, I thought some of what he was saying was a bit extreme but it did not bother me much. He is protecting his marriage; good for him.

Mike Pence, as many of us know, said the same thing and it seems that people are unreasonably outraged that a man would decide to make choices that proactively protect the most important and fragile relationship in his life.

I have been trying to tune out America’s mental breakdown as much as possible lately but this is an issue actually matters. No matter the difference in ideologies, most people, I have to assume would like to live in a thriving society in which self-actualization can occur and there is the equal opportunity for everyone to make something great of themselves. The question this is, what makes a society thrive?

The answer: Healthy family units

It is the family that is the smallest unit of society. If the family thrives, the nation thrives. Within the family, children learn who they are as well as right from wrong. Parents are the main educators their children for better or worse. It is within the family unit that children develop their character as they grow and create according to their unique gifts and talents. The parents are the creators of the environment in which their children will grow and it is the state of their marriage the climate of that environment.

In short, the state of marriage determines the state of the family which determines the state of the nation. So where are we?

We all know the state of marriage in our nation. The Divorce rate has been high since the 70’s so much so that it is rare to meet someone who has not been affected by divorce in some way. The number one predictor of poverty in America is the single parent home. Talk to anyway who grew up with an absent father, ask them how it was. Sons learn how to be men from their fathers and daughters get their self-esteem from their father. There is nothing cute about the “daddy issues” found in most children today.

The unfortunate state of the family today has our children learning how to be human from culture instead of their parents. They are dealing with adult issues from a very young age and are often times living in family situations from which they may never fully recover.

Therefore, with so many issues permeating our society that stem from the broken state of our family, why on earth would we criticize a man for taken active steps to keep his family healthy? Do you know how many children wish that their parents had been happily married for 35 years? I can only image how many women wish their husbands would have been chosen to be faithful while they were eating alone with other women.

If we want to “Make America Great Again”, we have to make our families great again. As we continue to rid ourselves of values, we will find that we hold nothing to be valuable. But if something is valuable, it is worth protecting and right now the institution of marriage needs more protection than ever.

It was not a spoken rule in our family but I cannot ever remember a time when my dad spent time alone with a woman who was not my mom. There was never any specific reason to. My husband does not spend time alone with other women nor do I with other men. I am SO grateful to my parents for protecting their marriage and I know that my children will feel the same.

There are certain institutions that are worth fighting for and certain traditions worth preserving. If we can agree on that we can agree on a lot more. Our vice president seems to get this and for that I applaud him.