Comes Great Responsibility.
I may not
have a superpower but our family has powers that are unique to the 21st
century.
·
We
have the power to make anyone’s birthday into an unscheduled party.
·
We
have the power to clean a messy house in ½ hour.
·
We
can paint a whole house in 3 hours…..well, maybe when everyone is all grown up.
·
We
have the power to be the loudest singers in Mass (never done it but I bet we
could!).
·
We
can gather around a hurt child and have them smiling and playing within
minutes.
·
We
can scare away a park full of people just by jumping out of our van one by one.
·
We
scare away bad guys.
·
We
can make any event not get cancelled because we always have the minimum #
required.
·
We
can shovel the elderly ladies driveway in 5 minutes flat
·
We
bring people hope for the future of our children in an immoral world
This is just
a small list of what a large family can do that smaller families cannot. BUT,
we also have the power to cause great harm. I have seen too many large families
take advantage of this and it makes it worth blogging about.
We can totally destroy the spirit and
annihilate and ostracize anyone who hurts one of us
Yes, a small
family can do this but nowhere near to the magnitude that a large family can.
You know the
drill. Someone picks on and bullies your 10 year old and out comes big brother
to defend his sister. NO ONE bullies his sister except him!!
Can you
imagine if everyone in a large family does this? Oh it happens! And when it
does, it is UGLY. It is a long and nasty relationship for months or years
on-end. The power is overwhelming and terribly sinful.
Just as a
priest has a greater punishment for a sin than you or I commit, so does the way
a large family treats someone who wronged another member of the family. We have
a greater responsibility because the harmful effects are greater than that of a
small family. (Still wrong……just greater and uglier)
I have had
this talk with my kids repeatedly. I remind them that if anyone hurts a member
of the family, the proper way to ban together is to do whatever it takes to
IMPROVE the relationship. Never will it be to collectively hurt, criticize,
mock, unfriend or end relationships. Never. It is hurtful and sinful yet so
many families use this power for great harm to others. Even though parents may
teach their children that EVERYone is made in the image and likeness of God,
that undeniable fact seems to get thrown out the window when a much less important
outsider wrongs one of them.
I’ll admit
that the first thought in my mind sometimes is “GET EM GUYS!!! NO ONE CALLS
YOUR SISTER A BRAT AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!!” But then I settle down and
remember what my superpower responsibility is. It is to unite and not divide. It
is time to pull out the big guns called virtue and prudence not avenge and
revenge. It is time to pour on the kindness and compliments and bring that person
to know that everything will be ok. Everyone in the Christy family is safe.
When I meet
large families, I pay close attention to how they operate when friction happens
with an outsider. If I catch that they unite and conquer poor imperfect
children, we stay far away. I wave and smile from a far distance and make sure
to never get close. It is toxic and dangerous. It can leave scars on a person
for a lifetime. No thank you.
If I care at
all about my children’s salvation, I will never train them that other people
are less important than them. I will never tell them that the best way to solve
friction between 2 people is to gang up and destroy their spirit with hurtful
comments, gossip, eye rolls, laughter and the cold shoulder – “That’ll teach em
to mess with my sister!!”
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