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AliceTheHunted [2014-02-17 23:34:16 +0000 UTC]

Claim: Ola for 1YellowFish

Family for me will never be about blood. Case in point, I don’t like 90% of my whole “family” or as I call them, my relatives. No my family is my parents, brother, one of my grandfathers and my step-grandma, and the few friends I have.

To me family is those I can trust, the ones I can talk to about almost anything, the ones who would help me hide the bodies. Not even joking, my dad and friends have always told me if I have to hide a body, well they will help. (Or give me an alibi)

Family is the ones I can forgive after a fight. We yell, we argue, but we always make up. Even if it takes some times to forgive or forget.

Family are who you choose and those that choose you, never the ones that are forced on you by fate. (Or by relatives) I am lucky I get along with my brother, hell I am lucky I get along with my parents.

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1YellowFish [2014-02-17 19:24:39 +0000 UTC]

Claim : Ola  

Family is blood and so much more. Family is sweat, and tears, rage and heart ache. Family is Christmas fights and broken glasses. Family is rides at midnight and understanding silence. Family is the blood we’ve shed for each other, and the way our blood boils for each other. Family is the ones we’ve chosen the ones we’ve accepted, the ones who claim us with everything we are. Family is confusion and it’s love. It’s hurtful and soothing. Family is the ultimate double edged sword, the most beautiful rose with inch long spines, the burn of a fever ridding you of disease. Family is simultaneously the best and worst thing in your life. Family can leave by rejection, choice, or death and that departure will never not hurt. Family gives life, guidance, and shapes us. Family is inherent in our very bones, our thoughts and our hearts. DNA structures us, our eye color, our build, our weaknesses and even our illnesses. The people surrounding us wriggle into the deepest parts of us and latch on integrating their very being into our own, ensuring any separation be devastating. Our hearts ensure their immortality through remembrance.  They whisper and shout and inform us of all around us, creating connections, creating words and language and patterns and so close are we that we would never question. After all they are us and we are them and those thoughts must be truth. Family is far from perfect. Family taints us in many ways. But Family more than any force in this world lifts us, empowers us, and thrusts us forward to achieve, to succeed, to thrive no matter the obstacles. Why is this? Simple, because Family, True Family will always put aside their differences and rise to your defense. True Family will hold you through the darkest, coldest winter’s night and shelter you from your own howling storm of emotions. True Family will always be there even when they have to cut out a part of their own heart, even if they have to cut into their bodies, and even most frighteningly if they have to chase away the whispers that once were truths that were part of themselves. True Family undulates and changes, accommodates and fizzles, each member reacting to the chemicals of all its members. True Family is empathy and sympathy and conflicted voices all wrapped in one. True Family is Life.

Ola is Hawaiian for Life

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Meeya-san [2014-02-16 17:07:39 +0000 UTC]

Claim: Stitch

Family for me isn't just the people who I share the same blood with. When looking at our family, with all of our cousins, grandparents, uncles, etc. and so many other people I've never met and most likely never will, it's either very big or really small. And, because I've never met half of them, I can't really call them, "family." My closest family consists of my father and mother, younger sister, my grandma on my mother's side, along with the rest of the uncle's  on my mother's side, minus one who lives too far away to come into contact to every day. I can only ever tell everything to my mother, since she understands more than anyone else could've. But I don't just consider blood-family "family." I have one single friend, and she's the only other person I can tell anything to. She's exciting and likes many of the same things I do - and whenever we need someone to talk to, we always know to go to each other while at school. (Or at home if we're both on Skype.) She also helped me get a lot of the friend's I had today. In 6th grade, she was one of the first person to become my friend, and she stuck with me until now. During 7th grade, she pulled me into a large group of people, and practically anyone in there I consider a friend now.
Basically, family to me isn't just those you're stuck with, but it's the ones who stick with you.

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jaiharock [2014-01-22 07:04:49 +0000 UTC]

Claim: Stitch

Family; such a simple word, and yet it can mean so many things. To me it is not merely something pertaining to only my blood relatives and kin, but extends to many continents and countries, cities, states and provinces. My immediate family is very small and quite distant, but even through tough times, there seems to be a certain sense of respect, even if half the family doesn’t talk to my dad much anymore. My extended family of my aunts, uncles, and various cousins are again, very distant, even more so than my immediate, but we all stay connected through Facebook and get together whenever we can. Even my husbands’ family, whom I have only just officially joined, is quite big. More than doubles size my entire family, and though there are still some sore spots on the Heck side, Brent’s mother’s side accepted little quirky me right off the get go.
But I feel that family can spread even further. I can’t even count how many older ladies from my hometown I still call Aunty. Growing up in a minute place, you got to know your neighbors quite well, and even my teachers that I went to junior high school and below, I would graciously accept them at my table for supper or a cup of afternoon tea. Even now, in a smaller community still, I find my life filled with more family than I could wish for; friendly companions to take you to the doctor’s office, elderly ladies who will offer cold lemonade on those long hot walks in the summer. All of us here are not bound by any type of blood, but our sense of community is what builds the family.
This brings me to my final section: my friends. There is a saying that you are born with a family, but your friends are the only ones you get to choose. I couldn’t agree with this more for there are countless people who’ve I discussed private matters that I have not seen fit to discuss with my siblings or parents. My kind of friends truly understand me and make me feel loved and appreciated, more so than my blood relatives.
In conclusion: What does family mean to me? Family is a group of people, that no matter what age, blood or how long you have known them, they will always be there for you, and I wouldn’t trade any of them for anything.

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MoonlightDewz [2014-01-20 02:05:14 +0000 UTC]

Claim: Aloha

To me, family means that each person gives their family members support, safety, respect and love. I find these four aspects are the most important because without them the family may not run smoothly or in some cases, exist at all.

Parents should support their children in school, work and life and children should give their parents support when they can. Whether it's a back-rub, a hug, helping a family member with house work, school work or hired work, family members should do what they can to help their loved one. Together, homes have been built, holidays have been celebrated and people have graduated because of families that support each other.

Safety is something that the family should feel when they are together. Parents should protect their children and children should be willing to protect their parents no matter what. A family is what makes a house a home because it is there, surrounded by your family, that you feel safe and protected. If a family member is in danger, the others should move mountains to save them because that is what family is partly about: protecting each other.

Respect is super important. I look at the media which say that parents should angrily order their children around and that teenagers should act like brats to their parents but the thing is, that portrayal isn't real, at least not in my house. In my family we don't viciously pick on each other, we don't talk back or roll our eyes at each other because we respect each other as human beings. While we do get angry with each other occasionally, we know where the line is and to cross that line means that you are lower then dirt, both to yourself and your family members. We also are kind to each other because we love each other.

Love is the glue that binds a family together. It is the reason people fall in love and have children. It is the reason that parents care for their babies. It is the reason that children hug their moms and dads and give them cards and gifts on mother and father's day. Love is why families exist.

So what does family mean to me? Family equals love, respect, safety and support. It means kindness, happiness, selflessness, comfort, warmth, reaching new heights and escaping great lows. It means life and it always will.

Words: 399

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piceouswings [2014-01-16 12:02:23 +0000 UTC]

Claim: Ohana

Well first let me explain the difference between family and relatives for me personally.
Relatives are people who are blood related, you didn't choose these people, and in some ways you are almost required to love them.
Family are people who you choose to be with, and who love you no matter what you do.
So while you can include relatives into the term family, you are not required to put them there because family is something you choose rather than something you are given.

For me personally my family consists mostly of people I have never even met, mostly through the Springs actually. Some I also met through online gaming. I mean I consider my sister family, I consider my cats family, my grandfather and my parents I also consider family. But my older siblings I consider relatives. My aunts, uncles, cousins, and other grandparents I also consider relatives. I may be related to these people, but they don't know me at all. So family, to me, is a group of people who know you really well. I would not drop everything in my life to go help a relative. But if someone in my family needed me I would move mountains to try and help in whatever way I could. Family is an umbrella term that summarizes the feelings of comfort, safety, love, selflessness, loyalty, and understanding. I feel that I can talk about sensitive things to family and not be judged for my feelings and views. Family are people who I choose to be with and they also choose to be with me because we love and support each other, they stay together through all of the bad things too. If I had a huge fight with a relative I would most likely never speak to them again, but having a huge fight with a family member hurts and is painful because I am close to that person. I would try my hardest to make up with a family member, when in contrast I would rather just let a relative go. Family are people I trust to know who the real me is and still love me unconditionally.

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