Why Do You Do What You Do?Maddie TriplettI am, above all, a member of my family. I am a daughter, a sister, a niece, a cousin. I love, unconditionally, simply because I must, because I cannot survive without the love of my family. I have come to regard my family as a pillar of strength, a beacon of warmth amidst a sea of indifference. I do not believe that loving one’s family is an inherent thing, rather, one is not necessarily born into an obligatory loving relationship with kin. I have chosen to adore these people to who I am related. I have removed the veil of relation from my family, and willingly seen them with a probing eye. And what I saw warmed my heart. I am not pretending that these people are without faults, that these people are infallible gods. Rather, I have seen their humanity and love them all the more for it. I am not imagining that we live in a nirvanic state, one free from argument and quarrel. Rather, I have entered into these quarrels as a willing participant, knowing that these tests are the stuff from which love is formed. The things that I have learned from my family cannot be easily quantified or enumerated. They, instead, are most noticeably seen in my everyday life, in what I choose NOT to do. They have made me everything that I am not, and for that I am eternally grateful. I identify with my peer group only to a certain extent because of my family. And while it can be lonely at times, being an island among your contemporaries, I know that I have an entire network of people behind me. So in essence, what I do is really a small matter compared to what I do not do. For life, to me, is a piecing together of who you are not, and what you will not become. By following the guidance of my family, I have solidified exactly who and what I am not, leaving much freedom in determining who and what I am.
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