In an article in The Christian Science Monitor, a researcher was quoted as saying, “. . . about a quarter of adult Americans have an active estrangement with a relative” (Stephen Humphries, “Another effect of the coronavirus crisis: Forgiveness,” May 5, 2020). The article went on to report a trend of reconciliations during the pandemic.

There are probably as many reasons for estrangements as there are families, and some of these reasons may be especially serious. But one recently identified common denominator mentioned in the Monitor article stood out to me: estrangement being viewed by some as a type of courage—cutting the people out of your life who don’t “promote personal happiness.” 

This prompted me to see what the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, has to say about happiness. For example: “Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it” (p. 57). It came to me that estrangements can be healed by understanding that happiness is a spiritual quality of God—of divine Truth and Love—not a personal possession, and that all mankind is included.