Families

On family, there is of course the Philip Larkin view:

“They fuck you up, your mum and dad.

   They may not mean to, but they do.”

But reflecting on the death of his brother in his G-File today, Jonah Goldberg has more of the whole of it:

“Families are similarly unique. Each has its own cultural contours and configurations. The uniqueness might be hard to discern from the outside and it certainly might seem trivial to the casual observer. Just as one platoon of Marines might look like another to a civilian or one business might seem indistinguishable from the one next door. But, we all know the reality is different. Every meaningful institution has a culture all its own. Every family has its inside jokes, its peculiar way of doing things, its habits and mores developed around a specific shared experience.”