NationStates Jolt Archive

Who are they? What are your responsibilities to them? Why?

Family is the people you love, sexually or otherwise.

Who are they?Whoever I say they are.

What are your responsibilities to them?To repay the debt that I owe them for making it possible for me to survive in the world in my early stages of life.
Why?Because I want to.

We are family.

I've got all my NS'ers with me.

1) Anyone with whom you are related, either blood relative or by marriage. This includes any ancestors, descendants, siblings, wife (currently), and her ancestors, descendants, and siblings.

2) Very little.

3) It's the definition in the dictionary.

Nonwithstanding point #1, it is possible to remove someone from your family, but submitting notice of disownment, either verbally or in writing, to the person to be removed.

To repay the debt that I owe them for making it possible for me to survive in the world in my early stages of life.

What debt do you owe? How do you repay it?

I got a question: why do you ask this?

Yo Momma.

now that I got that out of the way I'd say the family of the 21st century is your friends or whatever that chick from spaced said

What are your responsibilities to them?

back scratching and weddings

Family is the people you love, sexually or otherwise.

ewwww

What debt do you owe?Clothing, shelter, nourishment.

How do you repay it?By doing what they ask of me, within reason. Which means any of the "but what if it's illegal?" questions are going to be ignored.

I got a question: why do you ask this?
Boredom, curiosity, etc.

Clothing, shelter, nourishment.
Okay, but even though you didn't "ask" to take on that "debt"?

By doing what they ask of me, within reason. Which means any of the "but what if it's illegal?" questions are going to be ignored.
Where does repaying this debt rate on your priority list?

Okay, but even though you didn't "ask" to take on that "debt"? Nor were they required to take care of me, but they did.


Where does repaying this debt rate on your priority list?Fifth rung on my dream ladder.

Family... whether it's one other person or many; the people who matter in your life. The ones you can go home to and know that they will be there for you even if the rest of the world is using you like a bloody doormat. They are the people you should be able to count on, even if you don't always get along. These people don't have to be related by blood, though most families are. You can count on each other to help care for one another. They are the people who are there when you laugh, when you cry. Sure they may mooch and lie, but you've probably done the same during this game. ;)

For me my family is the people i grew up with for years and of whom i assume i'm genetically related.

My responsibilities might include;
making them dinner once in a while, or helping cleaning the house.
More personal responsibilities might include;
talking to them about their problems, talking to them about my problems.

To be fair i wouldn't use the word responsibility it's more a mutual agreement, because my family do these things for me, and i do the same in return.

Because they are a part of me, i grew up with them, in the same way i would look after myself because i grew up with me.
They are an extension of myself, and i of theirs in some ways.

I suppose it's also a given that i will give all my assistance if they require it. it's part of my happyfunlovingsuperduperself, or in short kinship.

That's not to say i don't have problems with them, and indeed in the past i have had issues with some of them (serious ones), but we've got over them, even if i find some of them intensely annoying, they're ma momma, daddy, brutha's and sisters yo! for real

People I consider important. I owe nothing to nobody, including people in my family. Why? Because that's just how it is.

Family is different in different contexts. There's the "real" family consisting of various relatives, some of whom you care for and some of whom you wish would go away. I love them, as Cordelia said in King Lear, "according to my bond, no more and no less." When I was doing Faire, I had my "Faire family" - these were people for whom I felt affection and respect because we had common values and interests - I'm still in contact with several them. Then there was my "work family." These are people with whom I bonded because of a shared feeling of persecution because our boss was a psycho - we kept each other sane and I'm still in contact with some of them.

We have no responsibilities to each other, but we act like we do. It's a matter of wanting to take care of each other, not having to.

family is people you are related to by blood or by law who you are close enough to to have to take them into consideration from time to time.l

Immediate family, I go with "those who are raised, and those who do the raising". This can include adopted kids, step kids, grandparents, friends, etc.

My responsibilities towards them are love, comfort, support, and protection.

Who are they? What are your responsibilities to them? Why?

1)Apparently those genetically related, but in practice probably those not more than one-removed or who have legally pledged to become part of it.

2)I don't feel a debt (after all I didn't ask to be born, and their decision to procreate made it their responsibility to look after me, surely?), but as human beings I have had a lot of contact with and find reasonably amenable, I will do favours for them and not necessarily want anything in return. But that should count for friends too, and they are essentially friends to whom I happen to be related. If I didn't like them, why would I do anything for them? (unless they were in real trouble, a maxim which ought to hold for anyone)

3)No more more reason than than it's pleasurable to do nice things for people.

Family means many things to many different people. For me it's my mom and my sister first and foremost, and then after that my grandparents, and all my aunts, uncles and cousins. There's a certain amount of loyalty I suppose. I couldn't write down what specific obligations there are since I think a lot of it is unspoken.

Peoples whats you hates?

family is people you are related to by blood or by law who you are close enough to to have to take them into consideration from time to time.l

^This plus friends who meet the same requirements.

As for responsibilities, I don't know that there are any set ones, other than to one's own children. I'd say that's it's more a matter of choice. I care about my family, so I want to spend time with them and help them when they need it. I know that I can go to them for help if I need it.

Peoples whats you hates?
lolwut?

Family are the people that I don't like, but I spend my holidays with anyway. As of the moment, it would seem that I owe them a beer stein, three DVDs, a button-up shirt and a novel.
Next year, I shall owe them more things.

It's a matter of wanting to take care of each other, not having to.

For me, that's about it.

My family contains some of the people who are related to me - but not all. And, some of my family are related to me, but not all.

Family are those I love, be they related or otherwise.

I owe them nothing and they owe me exactly the same but when it's needed we break our backs to help each other, not because it is owed but because we want to.

^This plus friends who meet the same requirements.

As for responsibilities, I don't know that there are any set ones, other than to one's own children. I'd say that's it's more a matter of choice. I care about my family, so I want to spend time with them and help them when they need it. I know that I can go to them for help if I need it.
you owe your family ...consideration.

if your brother comes to you for 10 grand for lawyer to defend him from that bank heist--you owe it to him to consider it for a moment before you say no.

non family you can just look at as if they are crazy to ask.

you owe you family a reasonable level of forgiveness. if they ask, if they are actually sorry, if its not followed up with a request for 10 grand, you should forgive them.

that forgiveness does not exted to allowing that forgiveness to give them permission to do you wrong over and over again or to ruining your own life for them.

you owe your family a bit of your time now and then on family occasions like weddings, funerals and major holidays. not all holidays not every year but now and then with the amount depending on how close the family relation is--yes you have to go to your grandfather's funeral, no, you dont have to go to the funeral of your great uncle who you never met.

Family are the people that I don't like, but I spend my holidays with anyway.

Awesome.

Family: 1)your closest blood relations and relations through marriage, with whom you should enjoy close mutually supportive relationships.
2) the people we choose to spend our lives with. Might have met them at church, at college, at the grocery store, whatever... but with whom you enjoy close mutually supportive relationships.

I am a strong believer in "friends are the family we choose."

Responsibility? Helping them in whatever way they need, just as they help me.

Why? 'Cos of mutual love and respect.

Just like the above said, I see family in two different ways:

1. Those who I am related to by blood or marriage. The people that, with the exception of my spouse & children, I did not choose to be in my life but are forever there. Though, my definition of blood ends once you've gotten into 4th Cousins, etc.

In other words, the dictionary definition:
"Any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins."

2. The people I choose to love, and to bring into my life... friendship & companionship on a level so close that I love the person one may love a brother, mother, etc even though there is an absence of blood relations.


Where responsibilities to either are concerned, I think it comes down to being there for them. Sometimes this means monetary aid, in other instances it means giving them a ride, etc etc. Granted like someone above said, I'm not going to run out and do something illegal for somebody because they're "family" especially in the first group, but in the 2nd group I may be willing to bend the law a little if necessary.

And I do it because I want to, and in some instances feel obligated. When you're raised under the notion that you have to re-pay those who took care of you, while you'd love to drop responsibility you just can't.

In Chinese, the word for home and family are essentially the same - 家 - to actually qualify it as family one would add - 庭 - but the first is understood standalone given context.

家 is made up from two characters, the lower is for pig, essentially a symbol of security and safety because if you had a pig, you were one rung up from scratching around as a basic farmer, the other character is a roof, so a home with a pig forms the word for family.

Might not make much sense but basically family are those with whom you feel safe and provided for.

So while the genetic/marriage link is technically what a family is, I'd certainly extend it to a group of people who allow you to feel a certain security, where you all provide for each other out of a shared sense of duty.

Thus, I would count close friends as family, there's no hard and fast dividing line but I have friends that even my mother would, to some extent, recognise as my family, knowing that when the chips were down, they would provide for me and I would do so in return.

A'ight, ma family is ma homeys etc., also my mum, dad, sister, extended actual relatives usw.

Family are those people that you just want to cover in kerosene and set on fire, but you can't because you love them too much.

To quote South Park, "Family isn't about whose blood you have, it's about who you care about."

A group of people who follow Charles Manson

A group of people who follow Charles Manson

roflcakes

Who are they? What are your responsibilities to them? Why?

People living together regarding themselves as family.
Your responsibilities are whatever you and the group decided they are.

Who are they? What are your responsibilities to them? Why?

Family are your kin, your blood realtions. Your responsibilites to them are whatever you decide them to be.

Family can be a great boon and a great disaster, I think the majority of us have a bit of both in our faimily lives.

Family are your kin, your blood realtions. Your responsibilites to them are whatever you decide them to be.

Family can be a great boon and a great disaster, I think the majority of us have a bit of both in our faimily lives.

So adoptive kids are not part of your family?
Your children's spouses aren't part of your family?
Your spouse, for that matter, is not part of your family?

So adoptive kids are not part of your family?
Your children's spouses aren't part of your family?
Your spouse, for that matter, is not part of your family?

What does the word kin mean to you?

What does the word kin mean to you?

It's another word for family.
Not necessary blood relations, though, as you implied.

It's another word for family.
Not necessary blood relations, though, as you implied.

Ahhh you know sometimes I think it's me, but other times I think not.

Perhaps I should have said 'your kin and blood relations'.

Meh!

Ahhh you know sometimes I think it's me, but other times I think not.

Perhaps I should have said 'your kin and blood relations'.

Meh!

Hehe... so the definition of family is - family. Right? ;)

Hehe... so the definition of family is - family. Right? ;)

Well I would have said that kin can defined as those people close enought to you to call family. Kin does not nessicarliy mean those of the same blood.

Those of your tribe are your kin, those of similar philosphy or belife can also be called your kin.

Family is whatever those involved need it to be.

Family is a group of people affiliated by blood, affinity or co-residence tied by deep sentiments of love and respect.

Family is the building foundation of a person.

Family is also what others make of it. I guess.

Family is those I love, those I respect and those who matter to me most.

And I look out for my family.

you owe your family ...consideration.

if your brother comes to you for 10 grand for lawyer to defend him from that bank heist--you owe it to him to consider it for a moment before you say no.

non family you can just look at as if they are crazy to ask.

Don't jinx me! Now that you've said that, it just might happen. =)

Seriously though, why do I owe my brother, just by virtue of the fact that we share parents, any more consideration of a crazy request than I do someone who is non-family?

Saying that one "owes" something, in my mind, typically means that there is some level of reciprocation. In order to owe somebody something, they have to have done something for me. There is a rather large chance that someone who is not family has shown me more kindness and done more for me than my brother ever has, so I would say that I "owe" them more.

That said, I would do a lot for my brother (not the example you posed, but a lot), even in the face of ingratitude and the knowledge that he'd just get himself into trouble again. Not because I owe it to him, but because I care about him.

I don't see the types of responsibilities that go along with family as some debt to pay. I don't feel that I "owe" it to them. I do it because I care and thus want to.

Don't jinx me! Now that you've said that, it just might happen. =)

Seriously though, why do I owe my brother, just by virtue of the fact that we share parents, any more consideration of a crazy request than I do someone who is non-family?

Saying that one "owes" something, in my mind, typically means that there is some level of reciprocation. In order to owe somebody something, they have to have done something for me. There is a rather large chance that someone who is not family has shown me more kindness and done more for me than my brother ever has, so I would say that I "owe" them more.

That said, I would do a lot for my brother (not the example you posed, but a lot), even in the face of ingratitude and the knowledge that he'd just get himself into trouble again. Not because I owe it to him, but because I care about him.

I don't see the types of responsibilities that go along with family as some debt to pay. I don't feel that I "owe" it to them. I do it because I care and thus want to.
because he is your brother.

you may think its all because you want to but you want to because he is your brother. even if he were a worthless son-of-a-bitch who really did rob a bank you would want to be able to do something for him even if only for a moment.

because he is your brother.

That doesn't explain why I owe him anything.

you may think its all because you want to but you want to because he is your brother. even if he were a worthless son-of-a-bitch who really did rob a bank you would want to be able to do something for him even if only for a moment.

....because I care about him. I want to help him out because I care about him. But that feeling is not a product of sharing genes with him.

Suppose I never knew I had a brother. Do you think I'd feel an obligation to help him when he showed up asking for money simply because we happened to share a blood relation?