Definition

Brother/Sister

When the word brother or sister is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind of most people is the person they are related by blood; the person who was born from the same mother and father. The only thing that differs them is the gender—brother for male and sister for female. But then, the definition of brother and sister extended. Being born from only one same parent also makes people sibling, even though many calls it ‘half-sibling’. Those definitions restrict sibling to a mere relation of blood. It says nothing about the sentimental bond that come along with it. A sibling is more than that person who just happen to have similar physical genetics. Instead, sibling is about the bond that allows a person to be so comfortable with another person that they could share their life with—without romance attached. This role requires the people involved to stick with each other through thick and thin, as a family should be. Therefore, sibling could also be about the relationship that allows people to be comfortable with each other as a family should be.

People born in the same family should have had that relationship. That relationship could be nurtured from the time they grew up together into adulthood and any hardship they go through together. They grow up learning about themselves and learning to know each other as well. The love and the responsibility towards each other would grow and that is essentially what sibling is. This is not to say siblinghood in reality always happen that way. Instead, sometimes siblings related by blood do not get along at all. It could happen because of many factors; divorced parents which caused them to grow in separate homes, extreme sibling rivalry, deep hidden spite because a problem that happened in their past, fighting over inheritance, or they just cannot get along with each other. By being in bad terms with their own biological siblings, many people could be missing out something that could have been priceless.

 However, some people could be siblings without even having a hair with the same DNA. The only son in a family could have earned a sibling—he could still experience that relationship with someone. The people meeting in the train for example, in one moment they could have been strangers, but only with a few words and stories they could have developed a relationship similar to what typical siblings have. A brotherhood or sisterhood could be a community in which contains people who acknowledge each other as family even without slightest blood relation. They feel the belonging and their relationship is not built based on any agendas like an organization is. To have many bonds like those is when one could feel truly home wherever they go.

Brothers and sisters are not just people who are related by blood, but rather it could also be two people who feel comfortable with each other. Siblings stick with each other through thick and thin. That priceless bond is not easy to be forged and should be cherished.