Blood - A Free Pass?

This one isn't about Edward or Bella. It's not about Bill and Sookie. It's not about giving the "gift of life" by donating blood. This one is about relationships. Family ones. It isn't one written directly about relationships within my own personal family, but rather about general observations about those that have their troubles.

Quite often lately, it seems, I seem to be reading, seeing, hearing things regarding fighting/arguments/misunderstandings within families and how people need to "mend fences" or "bury the hatchet" and sort it all out cause "after all, in the end, family is all you got". If that is true, some people REALLY got screwed. Granted, sometimes things happen within a family that are silly little disagreements that could be "fixed" with a simple I'm sorry, but not everything is fixable or forgivable in a relationship, even when it comes to family relationships.

While I do think family is very important in our lives, I do not think that just cause we share the bond of blood that that should give someone permission to use and abuse another person. If we would not tolerate that behavior from Joe Blow down the street or from someone who has been our friend for twenty years, why does that behavior or treatment suddenly get a "free pass" simply cause the person may be your parent/child/aunt/uncle/brother/sister/cousin/grandparent? Does the fact you may have the same parents or grandparents mean you are required to bend over and let someone else shove their foot up your ass?

Usually when there are issues within a family they can spill over to affect others within our families. Sure it can make family get-togethers a bit awkward if you have two people together in a room who are not on speaking terms, but it is certainly more awkward when you have those two people in the room, plus the twenty others who make it more awkward by sticking their noses in and telling one or both parties how they should handle their private business, thereby causing their OWN family fights/disagreements/arguments within the family. Unless the initial issue was yours, you never really know what brought about the fight in the first place and how many things or how long it has been going on that has brought it to this point so is it not best to just love both of your fighting family members and try to remain neutral?

I imagine everyone has heard the line about forgiveness not being about the other person, it's about you and no longer holding onto your pain or anger but sometimes the only way to remove the pain and anger is to remove the source of that pain and anger from our lives. And I personally do not feel that someone who has cut ties with someone they share some genetic material with should have to apologize for doing what is right for their life. It is THEIR life. Not yours/mine. Don't they have the right to live it?