algunos de mis cercanos deben saber que Javier y yo participamos en un concurso de ensayos en inglés organizado por la embajada de Inglaterra para los colegios bilingues + windsor xD. Obtuvimos segundo lugar, y aquí lo tiene para leer. Me temo que está en inglés, por obvias razones :P



In a world that seems to be running each day faster, and a society that seems to finally have the strength to get rid of ancient and traditional prejudices that only stop the rational development of Mankind, it is important to question us whether it is time to change the traditional concept of Family, or the time to realize that we may be loosing a strong society Pillar, that may lead to a collapse in many important areas of it.

We understand a Traditional Family as “a heterosexual monogamous couple, who are married and live together, considering also all the Children (male or female) that they may have.” This definition must be considered during the whole essay.

Nowadays, it's impossible to be certain that the topic this essay is about is still current. Since at least a couple of decades, the world has been experiencing a revolution in terms of Freedom of expression, which has resulted in a lot of situations which weren’t even thinkable in ancient times. The best example of this change of mentality is the legalization of homosexual marriage in European countries like Spain – though not all examples are this extreme. Children which are born out of marriage, couples that live together before the wedding day, and even the divorce, which wasn’t an option years ago and that now is done but most of the marriages. These situations have become so popular, and the new generations see them so normal (in cases, even more normal than the “traditional families”), that the idea of family must be changed, and a new definition must be looked for it.

In consequence, we must admit that the traditional families are less common than 50 years ago, and that new types of families have appeared. Although, we must also accept that this changes in the basis of our Society haven’t been for free. Dr Deb Huntley, professor of psychology in the University of Argosy, indicates that Children from divorced parents have more chance of having behavior disorders, lower school performance, and lower auto esteem.
Also, problems as depression or emotional syndromes are becoming more usual between the couple.
Non-desired pregnancy may lead to emotional disorders, school-leaving or abortion, and sons that are born without a father seem to have problems with people of their own sex, and this may result in aggressive behavior.
But in a deeper aspect, the dissolution of the basis of the western society as understand today, may lead to consequences we cannot expect. It is evident that the wound generated to an individual that loss the mind structure of a family will certainly look for another strong structure as the lost one. This may lead to fulfill the emptiness with consumerism, for example, or violent social movements.
When the individual has lost the strongest structures, such as the family, he or she soon will want to fill the vacuum with whatever may be as strong. And soon consumerism, promiscuity, alcoholism, drugs and many more will seem a suitable answer. They will be voluntary submitting their wills to these things. And the consequences for our society are hard to understand.

In conclusion, we can say that even new types of families have appeared, the traditional kind is still source of emotional stability.
Although they are less in percentage terms, they keep being the base of society; this because the others types of families come along with a lot of complications and conflicts that aren’t present when a family is composed as it used to be before.