Many things in life are too difficult to bear with without tricking humans to accept it.
Humans are lazy, but a huge literature has been constructed around work to romanticize it to the point where humans in majority now love to work. Some even kill themselves at work forgetting their own wellbeing.
Being in couple is difficult and very challenging. It’s very demanding to having kids and raising them. For any rational mind, the sacrifice that goes into building a couple, and having kids is beyond comprehension.
Reason why societies everywhere have constructed mythologies around family values, created fairytales around love and marriage, and romanticized the sacrifice necessary to bear with the brunt reality of building and sustaining a family. Because it’s a lot of sacrifice… for … only … vanity.
War is a folly where people who are engaged in are wounded, damaged, killed, but a big literature has romanticized war to the point where humans now engage in what they call war of choice. They want to go to war voluntarily…
It’s not only society that has to trick humans into things they might never like to do without romanticization.
Natures uses hormones to alter women and men perception to infatuate, fall in love, copulate, and keep using hormones to make them commit to raising their offsprings.
Old gnus give themselves to the crocodiles to eat in order to create a path for the young ones to cross the river.
Healthy families and societies are based on romanticizing sacrifice.
1. A family is sacred. You are your brother and sister keeper
2. When everything has failed, you only got a family to fall back to
3. You can renounce everyone but your mom. She carried you for 9 months in her womb
4. A couple is for life. Divorce is for the black and poor. Do want our society to become single moms country like the blacks?
5. For your kids welfare never give up on your couple. Sacrifice for your kids. Bear whatever life throws at you. Everything could be overcome.
6. A man is worthy nothing if he could no provide. A capable man is a resourceful man. Never marry a poor man.
7. A man defends its house, its nation, its country. Nation first, and nation for ever. Never betray your owns!
8. Men of honor are the real hero of society. A man should be ready to sacrifice for the good of the many.
9. Infidelity is for the ghetto girls. Honor your couple. Don’t sleep around. Loyalty is your foundation.
10. Life is competition. It’s has been always that way. Weak people protest, strong people rule them. Be on the side of the rulers, but show empathy to the weak.
11. …
Those are just samples of the self indoctrination or romanticized stories humans are subjects to agree to sacrifices necessary for a functional society and evolution.
Rationality is the enemy of romanticization. And objectivity is a path to pessimism and cynicism. While capitalistic individualism has made sacrifice to look like a burden to refuse.
Regardless of modernity, Societies, tribes, families which still use the irrational romanticization of sacrifice stories are very more resilient and prosperous that those who fail to continually build stories to indoctrinate their people into agreeing to necessary sacrifice for a healthy couple, a healthy family, and a commonwealth nation.
You cannot build a healthy couple with a rational person. Neither could family values thrive with modern individualistic people. A nation breaks down without big lies to romanticize sacrifice!
What stories your family and your tribe tell to romanticize love, couples and having kids?
What stories or phrases are common in your culture regarding honor, dignity, loyalty or simply sacrifice?
What romanticized story is your couple or relationship based on?
Do you still believe in the value of sacrifice and compromise?