Pat Drazin says " we. . . are deathly afraid of commitments and dependence.)"

And how did we get so isolated?  I'm sure this each one of us being an island unto ourselves is directly related to the decline in breastfeeding, which is directly and equally related to the increase of technology and affluence in our society.

 Entire family units used to have to work together to provide for the welfare of the family.  Then came all our technological advances, and people had more money and more leisure time.   People started  translocating from their communities for better opportunities -- immigrants and pioneers), then from their families, for better jobs (during the war years), and now they leave because they can afford to, and because they want to do their own thing.    We  have lost the extended family.  And now, many times, even the nuclear family doesn't know how to share    As a worst example -- with the advent of TV, at first everyone watched it at a neighborhood meeting place.  Next each family had to have one one.  Now each member of the family has one, often each room of the house has one.  (Even in very poor families).  You might have a household where everyone is even watching the same thing, but not together in the same room.  

When we lost the extended family, we also lost the support and teaching systems for life (and breastfeeding).   We didn't just leave our families, but left all types of general practioners.  Now, instead we have the professionals who have to act in their stead, and so we fractionalize ourselves and isolate ourselves even more.

Fortunately (NOT), as we moved away from the extended family, we had formula.  And since infants started surviving in increasing numbers, it was decided that formula was a good enough thing to become the norm.  We no longer had to invest the time and energy to make breastfeeding work.

And with bottle feeding we teach babies to be isolated along with their very first experiences in life.  The baby held at arms length, wrapped in blankets and not even touching his bottle, much less his mama, is learning to not get attached.

 Which came first?  Did we become isolated and afraid to commit and afraid to be dependent because we were bottle fed?  Or were we bottle fed, and do we bottle feed, because we are isolated and afraid to commit or be dependent, and afraid to have someone so totally dependent on us?

Whew!! Obviously your comment struck a nerve. This is one of the issues around which I have been trying to organize my thoughts.   What a wonderful thing to have a  global community of people with the same raw nerves as my own, to express myself to and not be thought of as a lunatic.  (At least I hope you don't think this is lunacy, even though it is a rant.)

Thanks