The truth about families...

When we're younger, we hear all this crap about how you should be nice to your brother/sister, share with them, look out for them and help them. We are told that, ultimately, they're the only ones who will always have our proverbial back. As much as we all try to uphold those obligations, at one point or another, we realize that our families have changed. We are no longer nice to each other. We take each other for granted and become offended at the slightest things, the way we would if it had been a stranger saying it. We fail at being the type of family we were taught to be.

This, in particular, has been bothering me for a while. I feel like I'm trying to push together the Earth, after a major earthquake that's divided it into two giant pieces (2012 brainwash, anyone?), hoping that, at some point, they'll stick together and it will become whole again. It doesn't help that the oceans keep swishing about and falling out. Needless to say, it's all in vain for, oh, so many reasons, the least of which is that I'm just over 5 feet and don't have the height or the upper body strength for such a job. No wonder, I'm exhausted! In any case, I realize now that it's just not going to happen. The laws of physics (and pretty much everything else) are not going to reverse themselves for my benefit or my family's. This is just the way life works but it doesn't mean that we've failed, like I once believed. It just means that we haven't mastered perfection yet. Then again, who of us are perfect enough for the job? Yes, we'll bicker and argue and cry and begrudge and snap at each other but I pray (I sincerely pray) that, ultimately, we love each other enough to continue aiming for that perfection. That we love each other enough to forgive each other for our "what the heck is wrong with you?!?!" moments.

And Allah is the most perfect of all.

The key to dealing with all this, I've realized, is not to focus on these issues. Put on your super dark sunglasses for a while and block it out. I know modern TV tells you that that's the worst way to deal with things and we should just let it out and work through it, but that doesn't really work all that well. People just get upset and things don't get solved, which coincidentally makes for great TV but not for a great life. Why open Pandora's box when you have the option of keeping it closed?

Well, these are just some thoughts wandering through my head. I might very well contradict myself very soon. I'm not very convinced of this myself so don't try this at home. Just...think about it and let me know your thoughts on this. Maybe we can figure this out...