Lanzarote Day Seven: Writing Wrongs

Or righting them?

Which?

I was still not drinking when I wrote this. An uncle by marriage (it’s complicated) who I hadn’t seen in years, but who I really loved and admired, died recently. I hadn’t heard. I saw it on Facebook. I was upset. Unreasonably upset — there was no reason why anyone would tell me, yet this is how fragmented my extended family is, and even closer than that, people not speaking to each other, or just not getting in touch. I know that I’m not alone in this. It makes me sad because we’re supposed to look after our family, aren’t we?

The morality of JD Vance. Look after family first. Is your family your neighbour? Or is your neighbour everyone around you right now, because your family might be a long way away? I wonder whether that’s what Augustine meant (here’s a quick and simple explanation of ordo amoris https://classicallyhomeschooling.com/ordo-amoris/). The interpretation is very different from Vance’s. First, love God, then your neighbour, then respect all human rights (fair to say that could now be extended to other creatures and systems) and finally, obey the law. All before loving money. Vance said look after family first, then community, then the rest of the world …Ordo Amoris, the Order or Ladder of Love. Augistine actually seems to have said, love all equally, but love those who are closest…