Found Families
“I’m a believer in that… I am a great believer in found families and I’m not a great believer in blood. Although I love my family, even the ones I grew up with, to me I’ve always felt that the people who treated you with respect and included you in their lives were your family and the people who were related to you by blood might happen to be those people but that correlation was a lot less [strong] than society believes it is.” – Joss Whedon
I happened upon this quote tonight while reading through Joss quotes at ThinkExist. Someone posted about it on Whedonesque and I thought, hmm… okay, why not? I’m not sure where this quote actually stems from, though given the nature, I would say there is a great probability that it surfaced in a DVD commentary on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That’s just a hypothesis though.
Joss is quite clear in his thoughts, forever backtracking and editing, in order to best reflect himself and what he thinks. Joss expresses here that those that you find and those that find you can become as much a part of your family as those to whom you are blood-related… sometimes, those bonds may be even stronger than the blood ties.
“I’m a believer in that… I am a great believer in found families and I’m not a great believer in blood. Although I love my family, even the ones I grew up with, to me I’ve always felt that the people who treated you with respect and included you in their lives were your family and the people who were related to you by blood might happen to be those people but that correlation was a lot less [strong] than society believes it is.”
It seems fitting that this be the quote I stumble upon tonight. Tonight, my sister is staying the night. This particular sister is by heart, not by blood. She has been there for me every single step of the way since we first connected. When I found myself at home for a long summer, *she* was the one that sent me messages to cheer me from her home. Day in and day out, our bond grew. We webcam-ed over breaks and sent each other songs. We ate lunch together and sometimes dinner. We shared in struggles and joys. We were part of a family and we felt so blessed. When that family disintegrated, she stayed by my side. I was broken and struggling, but she remained. She alone. We spent the entire summer together… scarcely going a day without seeing each other or speaking to each other. It’s true that these familial bonds do not always stand the test of time, but sometimes our found families are lifelong. If each person invests in that friendship, the foundation is continually strengthened.
I think that society can benefit from understanding this quote and hearing these words. We need to invest and care for each other as family. We need to be committed to our relationships and understand that those bonds can be crucial to our existence. I have many sisters. I have second and third parents. I have many friends that are classified as “family” … even by most of my blood family. This is a conversation I can have until I’m blue in the face. Actually, this is a conversation I *have* had until I was blue in the face… many times. My found family may have not survived intact, but I’m forever grateful and blessed by it for what it was and what came from it. I adore this sister sleeping beside me and thank the world for her every day.
I couldn’t make on my own kaps… thanks for always being there.
“I’m a believer in that… I am a great believer in found families and I’m not a great believer in blood. Although I love my family, even the ones I grew up with, to me I’ve always felt that the people who treated you with respect and included you in their lives were your family and the people who were related to you by blood might happen to be those people but that correlation was a lot less [strong] than society believes it is.” –Joss Whedon
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