Family is an interesting thing, isn’t it? No one gets to choose them, but everyone is expected to be happy with them. It’s like leaving a nice tip at a restaurant that doesn't bother taking your order. They’d just bring you whatever they felt like.

  In a world with so many options I don’t understand why people are so quick to restrain themselves to such a meaningless convention.

  The only thing connecting you to your family is your genes. If not for that biological happenstance they’d be no better than strangers. But because you just so happen to share some biological makeup with those strangers you’re expected to spend your life with them. Expected to love them.

  I’m sure most people don’t bother to question the raw deal they’ve been given. They blindly accept the hand they’ve been dealt. Society has already decided that you have to do just that. Even suggesting that you don’t care for your family will lead to you being labeled as a deviant. No matter what happens you're supposed to put them above anyone else.

  And you know what? Maybe you do. Or maybe you don’t. I don’t know, it’s not my position to say. How you truly feel about your family is your decision alone.

   It’s not my business in the slightest.

  All anyone can do is speak for themselves. That’s why it’s even more ridiculous that we’re all supposed to play by the same rules.

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  Even within a single family, what are the odds that you can get along with all of them? Sure, it’d be great if you got along with your brother, mother, and aunt, but it’s a lot more likely that you’d feel nothing for some of them, or maybe even dislike them.

  So you pretend. And if you’re lucky, you’ll pretend that you’re happy for so long that eventually you start to believe it.

  The problem is, most people aren't capable enough to delude themselves so permanently. You’ll just spend your life pretending, always aware that the ones you think you're tricking are doing the same to you.

  I’m telling you now, I’m not one of those people. I’ve never treated family members differently just because we happen to be related. And I’m positive that they feel the same about me. I might share their name, but I’ve never been a part of the Oldridge family. Depending on the day I’m either an asset or a liability. Nothing more, nothing less. And that’s fine with me. It makes where we all stand perfectly clear.

  Not that our relationship is overly antagonistic. Sure, there are some that I would push down an escalator if given the chance, but there are some that I legitimately enjoy being with. Not as a family member, rather, as a person.

  Basically, this is just a long winded way of saying that I judge people on their merits, not on their familial moniker, and I’d appreciate it if everyone else would do that same. Or if they’d at least drop the judgements on how I choose to view my family members.

  I’ll always make my decisions based on how I feel. Who I love and who I hate, I won’t let archaic notions like ‘family’ decide. That decision is mine alone.

  So if I decide I’m going to save her, there’s nothing any of them can do to stop me.