The Question
Julia Kraus
Kansas
It was a normal conversation, really. It's the first day of the 11th grade. I've just met my new biology lab partner. We talk casually. He mentions
his brother. Then he asks me "The Question."
"The Question" isn't earth shattering. It isn't even unusual. "The Question" is: how many brothers and sisters do you have?
He doesn't expect the answer I give him after a good ten seconds of silence. My answer is: I can't remember. I really can't. And "The Question"
always throws me for a loop anyway. Does he mean right now, how many siblings do I have at this moment in time? Or does he mean every sibling
I've ever had in my life?
I honestly don't know the answer to how many siblings I have right now. When I left home this morning, I only had three. When I come home
tonight, I could still have three, I could have two. Or four. It depends. As for all the siblings I've ever had, the tally is currently
nearing two hundred and fifty.
Foster care is so hard to explain.
Every time someone asks "The Question," it ends up becoming a whole conversation. There's no easy way to answer. I could say "two" and have that
be the end of it, because I do have two brothers who are sons of both my parents, but that answer is incomplete. It doesn't tell the whole truth.
I could say "over two hundred," but that leads to blank looks and such smart comments as "What do you do, run a sweatshop?" I could just say,
"We do foster care" and lead into the inevitable conversation straight away. If I answer "The Question" truthfully, scores more questions are opened up.
See what one question will do?
Family
Kim Rubin, 15
New York
The people you can always count on the most,
when you're around them you never have to boast.
Some say we're strangers connected through blood,
but those strangers are there for you through all the crud.
You see them every day of your life,
a mother, a daughter, an aunt, a wife.
When you're young and with them you don't have a care,
but when you get older it's harder to bear.
Running errands and getting things done,
with your family it's always fun.
Family can mean many things,
husband and wife tied together through rings.
You can have a brother or a sister
"But it means more than that to me, mister."
It means someone you can tell your secrets to,
someone who will bring you soup when you have the flu.
They will always be there for you
and support you through anything you do.
This is what family means to me.
I think if you had a family like mine you'd agree.
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Visit the bulletin boards and see what other teens have to say about our topics.
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Thoughts On Family
"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."
— Jane Howard
"Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we've put it in an impossible situation."
— Margaret Mead
"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life."
— Richard Bach
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