FAMILY IS...

Family is the ultimatum.  We can't do anything without our families.  People who are implacable believe that they can do without their family, but in reality we can't.  Families support us through the good and bad, and if your family doesn't, then maybe they really aren't the people you thought they were.  No matter how infinitesimal  your family is, they should support you and help you through all the bad times and all the exuberant times in your life.  I feel bad for people whose families feel a type of antipathy towards them.  To go through life and not have the compassion of a family.  Family can militate whether for good or for bad.  Our families have an affect on our lives whether we want them to or not.  Families are one of the inescapable things in life, similar to death and friends.  
Family is our support system, the people who will never give up on us.  Even when they beset us when we do something wrong.  You have got to accept your family though.  Even if they cause you duress.  You do not have to be a facsimile of your family.  It is okay to be different.  Your family cannot stipulate you and you cannot stipulate them either.  Your family can be one of your greatest assets in life or your family can be one of the most annoying things in your life.  It is your choice, and that choice can either change your life forever or it can be an innocuous choice.  
Family is applicable to your everyday life.  Your family can affect every one of your decisions or at least have an influence on them.  Family can have a stentorian affect on your life and your decisions and sometimes that's not always good.  People whose lives are ruled by their pushy and aggressive families don't really have a life at all.  Their decisions are always being made by others.  Usually these "others" are the mother hens or powerful dads that are making the decisions.  They have this vision of what they want this family member's life to be and unfortunately, most people go along with it and don't stand up for themselves and say " I have the patent to my life.  I control it, not you."  Living a sedate life is not always fun.  People may prefer it, but most people don't.  I think that the main reason there is this difference in the world is because of family.  Your family teaches you almost everything that you will need to know in life from decorum to how to handle certain situations and just how to imbibe life.  Your family makes you who you are and it is hard to change that once you have been with your family for all of your life.  Now of course not all families are loving and nurturing like we would hope that they would be.  Some people come from very unstable families and may hate just hearing their family's names spoken.  But just because you come from a family like this does not mean that you or that person are going to be like your family.  There have been amazing stories of people not coming from great families and they have been kind and gentle even though they have been through so much at home.  People who can do that have a certain prowess in my eyes and I would give so much to be able to have that prowess in my life that they have in theirs.  To me, to be able to come out of  that and still be a kind and gentle person is just amazing.  I could not imagine being able to stay true to yourself when you are in that kind of situation for years on end.  It just blows me away that people have the ability to do that.

Song: I'm Gonna Love You Through It by Martina McBride