Do You Love Your Family?
It seems like a silly question right? Of course you love your family. Yeah, there are hard times when you get angry or upset, but at the end of the day, you always love them. At least that’s what most people believe, but why do they believe that?
If you have ever been in a relationship before, be it romantic or platonic, you know that love doesn’t just happen, it takes time to develop, to grow, and to truly become “love”. So, where does that start with your family? Does it begin at birth when your parent(s) feed you, get you clothes, or take you back home? It certainly could, but I don't believe it does, seeing as your memory can’t reach back that far. You have to have a tangible memory of what makes you care for someone, otherwise, it wouldn’t be real love. You can’t just be told to love someone; that simply isn’t how it works. However, that is just what society does; society tells us to love our parents and care for our siblings, but it doesn’t tell us why.
To figure out the why, you have to dig deeper, deeper than the superficial family bond, deeper than the presumed love since birth, and deeper than what may run through your mind when you habitually say “I love you, see you later” when you walk out the door. I can’t answer this question though, in a simple article, and I may not be able to in an entire book, at least not for you, because for each and every person on this planet, it’s different. Your love for your parent(s) may even be different than your love for your siblings. To find out what it is that makes you love your family, you first need to understand what makes you love. That is why I can’t answer this question for you. I don’t know what makes you feel love, but I do know some things that can.
For me, it is when a person shows true compassion for how and what you feel, and I know that if my family asks if I’m okay, they really mean the question. For me, it is acts such as gift-giving that make me feel loved, so when I wake up on Christmas and there are gifts under the tree, I know that there is love. So whether or not you know why you love your family, just know that you do and that the only question you need to ask is why? Who knows, after you can answer that, your connection with them may deepen and grow even further.
