Article December 11, 1971 Issue

Holding the Family Together

DAVID KEITH CHARTRES WILLIS

It came to a head in the supermarket. They had been angry with each other for days. He felt she was not supporting him sufficiently in his new job; she resented his long hours and what she saw as his lack of concern with her task of looking after him and the baby in strange surroundings. They were far from relatives or friends to whom to turn.

Their family, like countless others in the Western world today, was being challenged by anger, resentment, fear, self-centeredness —all in an overall context of a more permissive social fabric.

Morose, he pushed a supermarket cart, on which was balanced a baby bed, with the baby inside. Suddenly the bed slipped to the floor. Though the baby was unharmed, its cry split the air. She rushed over, blaming him. He was overcome with self-pity and self-hate. The drive home was misery.

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