The broad village, the narrow world
One of G.K. Chesterton’s best paradoxes is that the world is small, the village is broad, and the family is enormous.
If one travels the world, one can locate and socialize with those who are very similar to oneself. In a small village we must put up with all types. And in the narrow confines of the family, we must not just tolerate but also love those who are completely unlike, and insufferable to, ourselves. Travel limits the mind; our home town and kin broadens it.
This is even more so in the modern world. Formerly, only the very rich, adventurous or desperate could leave their village. Even those who sailed to the New World often did so with their family, and recreated their old village with their fellow countrymen once they arrived.
Today, any old dipshit can Read More