Blood vs. Water

[Blake]

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

 

With the original quote, which meant that the bonds between friends and comrades (in Christ above, but let's be more general) are stronger than the bonds between those who share lineage, which is more important?

 

Bonds you forge or bonds you're born into? And why?

[evilfusion]

Wait...

 

Doesn't that mean that people are using the (shortened) quote to make the OPPOSITE point of the original quote? When I've usually heard "blood is thicker than water", it's used to mean that blood ties are stronger. Huh...I think you've mentioned this before, but I never knew the original quote.

 

But personally, forged bonds will always be stronger, because they were built by choice and by gaining and keeping trust. Forged bonds usually come from common goals and methods. Blood ties are...arbitrary. You're more just dealt a hand. You could easily despise your family bonds, but you're forced into those relationships. They CAN be strong, but again, forged bonds are by choice, making them stronger by default.

[Dad]

Forged bonds are stronger.  I got niggas I can count on, and family I can't.  I got family who can't remember me unless they need sumn.  But I got niggas who been my day 1s since middle school.  Since poppin locks and runnin around stupid.  And they still got me.  funk a blood tide.

[Simping For Hina]

You're going to be closer with the people you bond with. Familial ties mean sheet if you don't bond with your family. I hardly talk to my funking dad, but I am in contact with my uncle at least twice a month. I talk to my mom all the time, but I can't tell her about every time I have sex because she doesn't like that conversation. I can talk to my friend who is a jesus boy, and he doesn't give a crap.

[Icy]

Forged bonds are stronger.  I got niggas I can count on, and family I can't.  I got family who can't remember me unless they need sumn. 

 

This. Though despite that I feel greater security with family because they arent strangers as far as the law is concerned. I will always know where they live, where they sleep, what stores they frequent, their places of employment and if necessary their affiliations. A friend does not offer this guarantee regardless of affiliation unless they marry into blood. 

 

Its a pessimistic look on things but... :/

[Simping For Hina]

This. Though despite that I feel greater security with family because they arent strangers as far as the law is concerned. I will always know where they live, where they sleep, what stores they frequent, their places of employment and if necessary their affiliations. A friend does not offer this guarantee regardless of affiliation unless they marry into blood. 

 

Its a pessimistic look on things but... :/

Also creepy.

[Icy]

Also creepy.

 

How so? Un-medicated I could figure most of that out with my sense of smell alone (the places they frequent and affiliations). Its base level knowledge about someone to my understanding anyway. Its the guarantee in the event they do something wrong in excess. You have the information to see justice upon them without the possibility of their escape. Thats the security I enjoy with family... even if I couldn't trust most of them with telling the truth.

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

Bloodbenders also kick ass of basic waterbenders.

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Yeah, forged bonds are a lot better than the ones you get from family; well, depending on how you are anyway. 

 

Closest family bonds I have are with my parents; well, considering I still need them for financial support. I might not like them at times (because they argue with each other occasionally, and I end up having to relay thoughts at worst), but yeah.

 

Don't see my relatives very often, if at all, so yeah, can't count on them much. In the case of my cousins, they're either on the mainland or I don't talk to / see them because of reasons. (You can see a more detailed explanation in the "Mundane Fact" thread, or suppose you can query me in here.)

 

=====

For bonds I forged elsewhere, that generally boils down to a lot of my classmates (and instructor) in the martial arts club I go to on weekends. Yeah, I don't really go to the movies with them, but I do talk about my school / work life. Can't say I have a strong enough one with people at work, considering it hasn't been a year yet since I started working there. Sometimes I get asked about my school life, so...

 

So yeah, no friends at university (well, partly because I don't join clubs and the guys I grew up with went to the mainland). 

 

 

Heck, I talk to more people here than I do my own relatives, so what does that say? (No, it doesn't imply I have no social life, but my blood bonds outside of my immediate family are basically nonexistent.)