Growing up, my dad has always told me “blood is thicker than water”, meaning family is more important than anyone else no matter the situation. While I love my family very, very much and would do anything for them, I don’t completely agree with this idea. I believe the way I treat my family is the way I should treat everyone; with respect, care, and unconditional forgiveness.
I believe my family members are not the only ones who deserve to be treated with the upmost respect and care, but rather the ones who taught me to treat everyone that way. I feel the starting point for learning and practicing how to treat people, was learning how to treat my family first.
Family values were a big thing for me growing up. Both my parents had strong upbringings in the culture of their heritage and religion, my dad Irish Catholic and my mom a Mexican-American with a deep faith in God. I was always taught to be kind and polite to everyone, and to respect my elders. But family was most important, and you were always loving and caring towards everyone in your family regardless of the conditions. You stuck by family through thick and thin, and supported them no matter what. I was taught to treat family with the upmost respect, to help them whenever possible and always be there for them, and to love and care for them, through the highs and the lows, no matter the circumstances.
I now think of every person in this world as being part of my family. I strive to treat them as I would my own brother or parents. I believe the values I was raised with and the way I was taught to treat my family, is a great outline of how to treat everybody.
I wasn’t born with this viewpoint, and wasn’t necessarily raised to think this way either. I’ve come to think this way based on how I was taught to treat my family. And I believe everyone should be treated equally, with respect, care, love and forgiveness. So here’s to family.