i don't think that i am of the generation of students who began to learn that families come in all shapes and sizes. my picture books had a very clear blue sweater wearing father, pink dress and apron wearing mother, baseball playing timmy, and doll playing sue. and, of course, a dog named rover. all of them blond.
in this day and age, however, i've noticed that these same books now show families in all their glory and differences. there are the single parent families picnicking together, the homosexual couple taking their child and puppy for a walk, and the interracial family having dinner together, sitting across from people who may not look like them. i am in complete and utter support of such training for children because it really does prepare them for the real world. such people exist, and they will come across them. maybe not when they are 9 years old, but at some point.
the one thing that my education did not prepare me for was the differences within the families themselves. the only thing that i can assume is that others are also not prepared for this because it seems as the most intolerance i feel is from within my own family. this isn't an emo cry out for help against the oppression of my parents. this is a question posed to all those family who live thousands of miles away and who i feel are strangers to me: why?
i feel it the worst when i see other extended families getting along swimmingly. and i hate that i want it; that closeness between cousins and aunts and uncles. as much as i try to forget and tell myself that this has nothing to do with my everyday life, when it's staring at me in the face, i want so much to reach out and touch it. that nearly physical warmth that seems so genuine. i won't be selfish, i just want a taste. no matter how hard i try, i just can't get it.
