Families have been under attack for centuries. What started out as the traditional nuclear family, with heterosexual parents and at least one biological child, is almost an anomaly. What was once viewed as a shameful disgrace is now excepted as the new norm regarding the family structure. Family refuses to die. It fights to live on.
Today, families come in a variety of forms. Consider the homosexual family, the single-parent family, the blended or stepfamily. There are families that adopt or foster relatives and the extended family where each household maybe a combination of any of the above. Family was ordained to be the first place we get our physical, emotional, and even spiritual needs met. Being a part of a family is so vital to our existence until we will seek it out in a group, club, sorority, fraternity, or even a gang if our needs go unmet by our natural family unit.
Families live and evolve because they are essential to our individual existence. As much as we celebrate our unique individuality, it remains an important element of our well-being to connect with those that are similar. It gives us a sense of belonging in a world where many have numbed and guarded their emotions, leaving the rest of us emotionally abandoned. This creates an internal locus of need that will cause one to act like an addict. We will do anything to protect, defend, and fulfill the good, the bad, and the ugly that lilies within our familial ties, even to our own demise. This loyalty, this commitment runs deep, and it has caused us to willingly house secrets that were created to cause an implosion and destroy the family from the inside out.
The family is a crucial element to having a strong, healthy community but the members of a family are only as strong as their weakest link. Toxicity develops when we ignore the breaking of moral codes, shattering of ethical guidelines, and the meltdown of spoken (as well as unspoken) boundaries for the sake of displaced loyalty or appearance. If the level of toxicity is not decreased, removed, or exposed to an antidote it will continue to spread like a disease to each incoming generation.
This month, we look at some of the attacks that have caused family dysfunction and as a direct result spawn abnormality in our individual lives. This is not to assign blame, but to gain knowledge and power to stop the toxins from spreading any further.
We celebrate the family.