Be my brother.
I am an only child.
No siblings.
Just me. No one to share my feelings with (not true now-I have a blog). I have alwyas felt the need for a sibling. I cant explain myself there.
I have had cousin sisters, who are more of sisters, stay with me. They are the closest I have ever come to having siblings. I am thrilled to bits that one of them is in the family way. Yet, after her marriage it seems we meet very rarely. I speak to her on the phone too only once a week.
Anyways, this is not what i intended to say. I really want to know what it would be to have a sibling. To fight with, to share, to cry on the other's shoulder.
It pains me to see siblings fight. So much so that they do not even talk to each other. That too over petty matters like property. It is really sad that people who have grown up with each other, spent all their lives together, would heckle each other even in court for a small amount of money. Take the Ambanis, for example. Brothers that run a 100000 crore empire. They cant stand each other. The newspapers are rife with reports of their mudslinging at each other. Their stocks are plumetting. The latest news is that the AMbanis are working out an agreement to bifurcate Reliance-the company their dad built from scratch. Really sad.
One more thing about siblings is the constant urge to outdo the other. Why the sense of rivalry? I have these relatives- three sisters. Spens a lot of time with each other. Yet, the amount of dirt they throw on each other's back is quite remarkable. You can feel the tension amongst them when they are in the same room. Yet, they act as if nothing has transpired.
There are so many more little things that cause differences. This relationship, just like all others are thorny. What people must realize is that the only way to sustain a relationship is by nurturing it. Not by neglect, which often occurs when it comes to siblings.
All the people on this planet who have siblings are lucky. Ask someone who does not have one.
No siblings.
Just me. No one to share my feelings with (not true now-I have a blog). I have alwyas felt the need for a sibling. I cant explain myself there.
I have had cousin sisters, who are more of sisters, stay with me. They are the closest I have ever come to having siblings. I am thrilled to bits that one of them is in the family way. Yet, after her marriage it seems we meet very rarely. I speak to her on the phone too only once a week.
Anyways, this is not what i intended to say. I really want to know what it would be to have a sibling. To fight with, to share, to cry on the other's shoulder.
It pains me to see siblings fight. So much so that they do not even talk to each other. That too over petty matters like property. It is really sad that people who have grown up with each other, spent all their lives together, would heckle each other even in court for a small amount of money. Take the Ambanis, for example. Brothers that run a 100000 crore empire. They cant stand each other. The newspapers are rife with reports of their mudslinging at each other. Their stocks are plumetting. The latest news is that the AMbanis are working out an agreement to bifurcate Reliance-the company their dad built from scratch. Really sad.
One more thing about siblings is the constant urge to outdo the other. Why the sense of rivalry? I have these relatives- three sisters. Spens a lot of time with each other. Yet, the amount of dirt they throw on each other's back is quite remarkable. You can feel the tension amongst them when they are in the same room. Yet, they act as if nothing has transpired.
There are so many more little things that cause differences. This relationship, just like all others are thorny. What people must realize is that the only way to sustain a relationship is by nurturing it. Not by neglect, which often occurs when it comes to siblings.
All the people on this planet who have siblings are lucky. Ask someone who does not have one.
posted by Sunil Natraj at 5/24/2005 07:01:00 AM
6 Comments:
I am an only child as well and I have always wondered how different my life would have been if I would have had brothers and/or sisters.
I have a brother, a sister, three step-sisters, and a step-brother. I can tell you that for the most part, they were all a blessing in one form or another. Still, sometimes a close, true friend that you hold on to can be as good as a brother. Friends are just harder then brothers to keep track of.
As the oldest of three, there have been MANY occasions that I wished I was an only child growing up. But now that I'm older, I wouldn't trade my sibs for the world. We may not talk all the time, but we are still tight and stick together when the going gets tough.
I married an only child, and so often, I felt like he couldn't relate to me when I would go through challenges with either my brother or siser. You are lucky that you at least have cousins that feel like sisters to you. Having siblings really gives you an insight to people that no one else can.
The rivalry, I can't explain. It just happens. My sister (she's the middle) and I are three years apart, and the rivalry between us is crazy. However, amidst the constant struggle to outdo each other, we can still cheer each other on and have both done well for ourselves as a result. Now that we are older, the rivalry isn't so overt, but it's still there. It doesn't keep us from being best friends, but it does cause the occasional dramatic outburst when we get together. But, it blows over and we're back to being sisters again.
Aww. Now ur'e just being a drama Queen!!
And as Travis would sing ' The grass is always greener on the other side..'
You know not all siblings are rockstars. At least not for the first 30 years of your life.
Sunil, that makes two of us. I have often wondered the same too about siblings - the pros and cons of having them :-).
As one child of six, I agree on two counts with some of the posts here: while you all live in the same house and even into your early twenties, it can suck pretty bad. But as time mellows each sibling, you see less of one another, and realize that your differences are interesting at a distance, the hostility of childhood can lead to a more mature appreciation of the friends who share the same DNA as you. I'm glad that I've lived to be on good terms with my siblings; it's a blessing worth the trials of youth.
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