My View on Family

            What constitutes a family has been an issue of debate for decades.  Americans have always had an idea of what the typical family should be like.   For instance, the 1950s was an era where marriages thrived and divorce rates were low.  This theory is reflected through television shows such as I Love Lucy or the iconic model family from Leave it to Beaver.  As the times we live in change, so do our perceptions of what a family is and this is also demonstrated through such television shows.  During the late 1960s people had somewhat accepted the reality of divorce and we can see that with our favorite blended family The Brady Bunch.  These days we have programs featuring serial killers raising children (Dexter) and single moms selling drugs (Weeds).  So with that being said I think it is safe to say that our idea of what a family is will continue to evolve.

My family is great example of the evolution of the home unit throughout the years.  My grandfather and his wife adopted my uncle in 1954 and then my mother in 1956.  They lived the American dream until cancer abruptly took his wife.  My grandpa remained a single parent for some time during the 1960s then re-married my grandmother in 1966.  My grandma was also a widow and had two children from her first marriage.  As with most blended families, a period of adjustment began to take place.  As a result of this transition and the preceding death, it left a huge wall between my grandma and my mom that still continues to this day. 

I place my family’s history at the reader’s disposal because it is in a situation like mine that I learn the true meaning of what family is.  Despite the lack of respect or emotion on my mom’s part, my grandma has always been there for us.  My grandma ended up taking me in when I was sixteen and raising me throughout high school and by doing that demonstrated an unconditional love for me that I don’t think blood relation could ever surpass.  To be completely honest, blood relations doesn’t really have much meaning to me because I have never really known an unconditional love from a blood relative (because there are only three of us).  I don’t say these things for sympathy or pity, but rather to prove the point that family is a greater force than just DNA.

If we were to take a survey on the streets asking people about their definition of what family is we would get a wide variety of answers.  The Christian community considers family a union between husband and wife, not to mention they call everyone they meet “Brother or Sister.”  The same sex households will argue that a family is a home with two loving people raising their family with love and equality.  No matter how a family is structured, all have this one thing in common; love.  I know many people have dysfunction in their families, but in the end family always equals love.