THIS PREVIOUS entry looked at a piece by Washington Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax. Hax’s response to a woman who had recently received a devastating blow showed the insensitivity that lies behind modern non-judgmentalism. The woman’s husband had left her for a man. Her friends and family were showing sympathy for him, even as her husband was posting indecent ads online with his boyfriend. Hax told her to get over it and move on.

Some excellent comments were added to that entry. Jill Farris wrote:

The proper response to evil and immoral acts should be anger and revulsion. A woman who is sickened by a husband who leaves her for another man and posts sex ads is doing her children a favor by showing her emotions. It is the right thing for her to do.

I grew up in the 1960’s when my parents and all their Ivy League colleagues were divorcing their wives and acting very immorally. It was the accepted thing among everyone we knew so the children kept quiet about their deep pain and sorrow over the break -up of their families.

When I became a Christian in college, I remember the first time I casually told another member of our church that my parents were divorced and I saw (for the first time) someone react with sadness and shock over it. It was very healing for me to see my long repressed feelings reflected on the face of an acquaintance and to know I wasn’t alone in believing that divorce was a horrible thing.

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