Growing up, and even today, my sister
and I have been complete opposites. I am of the hippy minded, nomadic
traveler, health nut type, while she is of the popular culture,
sorority girl, party type. While I used to be resentful of her
lifestyle, mainly because I thought it to be unhealthy, I have grown
to love and appreciate every ounce of dichotomy between us.
It seems to be a thing with siblings;
they are always quite opposite in their ways. Have you noticed this?
It's almost as though they are struggling to find their own
self-identity within their immediate family that they have to be
completely different from anyone in it. It's not like a hypnotic type of influence, I think it is a rather consious act. For example, if I had taken
up soccer like my sister did, I would have felt as though I was
simply walking in her shoes. It would have been the same if I went to
the same college as her, and fell into a similar sorority, or dressed
the way she does. It's an interesting paradigm.
I have noticed this in many other
family situations, aside from my own. You will have a quite,
reserved, perhaps introverted older brother who may be into reading
tech magazines and computer programing, a complete genius, while
having the younger brother be an outgoing, extroverted high school
jock on the football team.
Not to say it doesn't happen, but it's
certainly seems more rare to have two brothers that are both the same
exact way.. Especially twins! It seems as though twins are constantly
trying to gain personal identity, and it seems to grow stronger as
much as they look more similar. Do you know of any identical twins?
Usually they are very different in demeanor.
What do you think?
The moral of this post is to remember
to celebrate the differences between siblings (and everyone in your life, in general); who your siblings are,
and how they behave, dress, and think, often times has a lot to do
with your own personality and who you have come to be.
