What does the word “family” mean to you? Is it a generic term to describe the people who are biologically related to you? Or does it have a broader meaning than that? In my mind family is not limited to those that are just biologically related to me, I consider my close friends as family as well. Some of us are on different spectrums when it comes to family, there may be some of you reading this that say, ” I don’t have family” and maybe some of you are saying, “we are all family” and believe it or not we are all right in our interpretation of family. The term family does not have a static meaning, It is one of those words that you can ask people about and get a different response every time; But I am not writing this to simply explain that we all think family means something different, instead I am curious to find out what people find to be the most important thing about family. In my mind, family is important both in good and bad.
Go back to when you were going into high school and your older brother or cousins or any one of your family members came to you with that classic talk, you know what I’m talking about because we have all heard it at some point or another. Oh, you don’t remember, let me remind you real quick. ” If I could go back to high school It would be so much different…….Etc Etc Etc” Do you remember now? At the time of you receiving that talk you probably did just like i did and blew it off, maybe even laughed and thought to yourself, ” Yeah okay, sure you would”. Well now that I am older I know that was not an attempt for that person to relive high school in their head. They were actually telling you that attempting to sway your decision-making and help you succeed.
Now, jump ahead 6 years to your mid twenties, you may have been having trouble with that special someone and you may have been all broken up about it or maybe you were not sure what to do. Oddly enough look who stepped in to talk to you about it, Family. As we get older it is almost like we begin to trust our family and the advice they give a little more each day. It may not be the advice that we always go with but we always take it into consideration.
To me family is more than important, you should be able to go to family no matter what the situation and family should be able to come to you with any situation, when you are down or in need family is there to help. Family should not look down upon you no matter what you are doing instead they should help in lifting you up. One of the most important things I think family should encompass is forgiveness… I know I have written a post about forgiveness but I think family can be one of the hardest to forgive. Why? because I think we all expect family to not do wrong or not make mistakes when it comes to us but we sometimes need to take a step back and remember that the word family does not mean perfect and family is not immune to forgiveness.
I have been blessed with an awesome family that is not perfect because no family is and no matter what anyone says I don’t think I would trade them for anything. As a family you mold your young and instill morals and help to build the character that will stick with them and allow them to build their families later on down the road. With life today being so hectic and time based, I think we all forget from time to time to turn to our family and remind them how much they mean to us, even when a family member is down and not being the person you know them as, that may be just the time to extend your hand and help them up and remind them that you care. Everyone needs their family from time to time whether they are blood related or not, so do your part and embrace those around you and if you take anything from this remember, ” The Word Family Does Not Mean Perfect”.
Once more, you may not agree with my stance on all of my topics but feel free to click the comments button and “Turn Your Inner Thoughts Inside Out”.
Raymond
All Things Raymond 