It is a joke that we cannot relate to the people we are related too, but it is a very common occurrence. Somehow we believe that the saying ‘black sheep of the family has some relevance. Actually it is a pretty appalling and ignorant saying which presupposes that there is some standard to which we must adhere. The obvious question arises, who set the standard?
Because that standard hides chauvinism, arranged marriages, the Mafia and many other assaults upon human freedom of mind. It certainly is not one to which we should ascribe. Because if we do we are saying the family acts like nothing more than a mini-tribe – with a leader and a set of rules that makes it stand against other families; in other words it is a recipe for civil dissension.
Far better to have a viewpoint that accepts genetic ties but allows that human freedom of mind supersedes any ‘inherited’ attitudes such as these because then you will have families that depend upon conscience for the way in which members commit to each other, and not have them see the family as a bulwark against the world which we do at the moment.
My family is actually larger than those I am directly related too. They are those who love the world of nature, who hate injustice to the point of death, who create and think, and in their mind’s-eye can see all that humanity could be if only it were not blinded by baubles.