Friends vs. Family

So this week's topic is to respond to that age old saying blood is thicker than water. For those of you who have never heard this phrase it basically means that family matters more than anything esle.
The second part of the question is about friends. Can friends be family? Most teenagers would argue yes; most adults would argue no.

All in all, is it really plausible that only those who share a gene pool with you would be there for you through everything?

Here's my take on it. Sure blood is thicker than water. But there is something more than "water" between my friends and me. We are not just swapping petty gossip and doing stupid/dangerous things together. I know that this is all my parents perceive. They think all my friends and I do is party and hang out. I don't know what kind of friends they had when they were my age, but that is not how it works with Glee Club.

I consider my friends my family. A couple of us were sitting around one night and we figured out how our relationship/group dynamic works. All of us are completely fucked up. Mentally at least. All of us are insecure, irrational, passionate, fragile, daring, unaccepted/unpopular, and unique. We all break the stereotypes of what we should be-what people think we should be. At first glance none of us have anything in common. The fact that we are could be friends makes no sense at all. They say birds of a feather flock together, but our backgrounds are worlds apart. We are complete opposites-gay, straight, black, white, extroverted, introverted, academic, slacker. The thing that holds us together is love. That sounds cliche, but it's true. Each one of us has a set of issues that we need to deal with. But we don't judge each other. And we don't say I told you so. We accept everyone, no matter how dysfunctional they may be. No matter how many issues they have. We listen and share. We open up. We just try to help each other through.

To me a key role of "family" is that they are always there for you no matter what. Maybe to adults it seems like teenagers can't do that. Can't be a shoulder to someone 24/7 without asking anything in return. But my friends and I manage to do it. We are there for each other no matter what. We can talk out our problems without fear of being judged. Without the fear that anyone will be disappointed in us. I think it helps that we are all going through the same things. We're all discovering ourselves and learning about the world together. We are leaving the ideas we were raised on behind.

The last thing I have to say is that my friends know everything about me. And I mean everything. They know all my secrets and all my faults. They have seen me at my worst when I am on the edge or when I'm having a break down, when I'm scared and unsure of where I'm going, and when I'm so upset I can't even speak I can only cry and gasp for air. Sure, my parents have seen me like this too. The difference is my friends help me. They understand. They know to hold me until it stops hurting-until I can breathe again. They take one look at my face and know what's up. Know if I need to talk about it or if I just need someone to hold me while I cry or if I need a quick distraction. My parents dismiss my distress as teenagerism. They can't even begin to understand. And they don't want to. So you can see where family falls short. Where age is a barrier that even blood can't break.

So this is my answer. Most sources say that a family is a group of persons of common ancestry. I say that a family is a group of people united by certain convictions; united by common stuggles and triumphs; and united by whispered secrets and shared stories. These are the bonds that blood cannot form; these are the bonds that blood cannot break.

I know there is strength in the differences between us and I know there is comfort where we overlap.