Who could ever love you like the person whose DNA you are made up of? Who could ever protect you like someone whose genes are similar to yours?
Only family could love and protect you like that. Family is one of nature’s greatest gift to a human coming into the world. To me, it’s God’s way of making sure that there is a physical hand guiding and protecting you as you grow and learn about life.
Almost everyone I know lives by the motto of blood is thicker than water. Solid words that have their own merits. Truth be told, that saying is not very practical in reality. It rolls of the tongue smoothly and frankly, it has been overused by the youth to justify most of their actions.
Go deep in the books of history and you are almost guaranteed to find instances of were blood betrayed blood. A thousand times over. Some of the greatest wars and conflicts fought in the world are just family members having a squabble, some even come from the same womb.
Yet we turn to them time and again in both good and testing times.
In our society saying no to family is considered offensive, it’s not a very popular response. But as the years go by, am starting to think it’s more vital to one’s peace of mind and health.
I’ve come to realize that most of the headaches the family can cause you come from saying yes to them when it’s not necessary and not convenient for you. Listen to some of the youth’s troubles and you will find that some of them agree to what their families tell them. Regardless of the request.
This is amplified if the request is from an older member, maybe a parent, aunt it becomes a whole different thing saying no. It’s tough to go the other direction because there is a psychological pressure to maintain peace and societal pressure not to say no to family.
“Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.”
Now am not advocating for you to be disrespectful to your family or be selfish with your time and energy. Never forget that they are your family and regardless of how many times you say yes or no, they will always be your family. That can’t change.
Just merely to be aware of the consequences of agreeing to something that you know is detrimental to you, but beneficial to the next person.
In essence, when you say yes to someone, you say no to yourself.
*Olavi Popyeinawa has a diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is currently studying law, LLB at the University of Namibia. He writes on youth matters. Twitter: @ OlaviPopyeinawa and olavipopyeinawa@gmail.com