The Family at Large
The world seems smaller because we can get to parts of it much more easily. Even compared to our grandparents, our ability to move to another country is a lot less complicated than it used to be. Globalization means that people can and do move away from the hometowns. This has widened our reach and allowed us to meet cultures and have experiences that were unthinkable two generations ago.
This has come at a cost. We may have gotten wings to span the world but at the cost of our roots. We are becoming disconnected with our family. Worse, we have started to undervalue the importance of family. Family is the best support structure we can have. The family is comprise of individuals who are predisposed to love you and encourage you and help you. What people have forgotten is that these relationships are not automatic. Like everything else, these relationships must be worked on and maintained.
Fifty years ago, if a young man and his wife left, say, Albany in New York and moved to Sydney, he was in effect, starting over. He will acknowledge that he has relatives back in the US but the chances of them meeting will be slim unless he can afford traveling the distance. At any rate, it will be visits that will happen rarely.