Running Head: Ohana

Ohana
Brianna Walters
Writing 1020
3/26/16

Ohana

Abstract
The word family is a common word but the meanings to the word can fluctuate. In
society in the 18th century, family was formed by forced marriages and the expectation to have
children. As time has passed, structures of family units changed from the typical married
household with children and started to become common for single-family households, blended
homes, and foster homes. The meaning has also broadened to not only blood-line relatives but
also to friends, co-workers and pets. The saying Family of Nations also shows that bond for
caring for one another can form, even if you dont know them Family does not have to be
conclusive to only people with a common ancestor but to a group of people who care and love
one another and maybe share a common value or belief.

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The English language has over one million words, and most of these words may not be
understood by a different language. But, there are still words that the meaning is understood
universally. One of these words is family. It is something everyone has, or maybe had. The
dictionary definition of family is a group of parents and children living together in a household
or all decedents of a common ancestor. Even though everyone knows what family is, the
meaning of family can change from person to person. There are many different forms of family,
such as single homes, blended homes, and foster homes. A family can go beyond the relationship
of relatives to include friends and co-workers or even pets. The connection of family is not solely
based on blood, but can also be for a common love for one another.
The importance of family has remain constant in society since the beginning of time.
Why do families exist in the first place? Through the centuries, the concept of family has been to
reproduce and nurture the young. From jrank.org, the writer says Every human society has
families, so they must serve some generally recognized purpose or function. Most functional
definitions of the family focus on the importance of human reproduction and the necessity of
nurturing dependent children for a relatively long period of time. From the beginning of time to
the modern day, families have reproduced and been a teaching support system for those babies
until their adulthood. The families teach the babies to eat, walk, talk, and how to act. They are
the teachers at home for homework and how to act in society. Even to adulthood, the children are
lead through life by their family with help how to pay bills, get a house and register for loans.
Through the times of learning, families also nurture the baby. While they are teaching the child
how to ride the bike, they will clean the scrapped knee when they fall off. Families exist in the
world not only to reproduce, but to nurture and teach the growing generations how to survive and
to behave.

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Even though the concept of family has remained throughout time, the structures have
broadened. In earlier times, such as the 18th century when arranged marriages were common,
families main function were to reproduce and nurture the young. Family is always thought of as
limited to ancestor connections and to be blood-line related. In the 21st century, there is now a
variety of family units that differ from the typical thought of explanation of a family in the
1950s. A traditional family was thought as a mother, father and children and extended to
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and so forth. In the 21st century, the structure of families have
broadened. Now, single parenting homes, blended homes and foster homes are common. The
meaning of home now becomes an important part to explain family. In the Merriam-Webster
dictionary, they state the meaning of home is the social unit formed by a family living together.
Even though the typical family was thought of to have two parents, it does not mean that a home
with one parent makes it any less of a family. A family is made of love, and the caring of one
anothers well-being and safety. If a married couple with children get a divorce and separate, a
child in a single parent home does not mean that the child is less loved than before. Even in a
blended house, members of previous relationships come together as one unit. The dynamics of
whoever is living in the house does not make them any less of a family. The ideal that only
parents and children make up a family excludes numerous family structures that are common.
These excluded family structures would be other family members that take care of the children if
the parents are no longer around, such as grandparents or aunts and uncles. Childless couples
would also be excluded from the traditional form of a family. A couple without children, also,
does not make them any less of a family. Now that homosexual couples have more rights in
recent times, they are also a common part in the variety of family structures. This would not fit
the traditional meaning of family because its two of the same, two fathers or two mothers,

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instead of one father and one mother. Foster homes tend to have a group of children with no
ancestral connections. In these homes the common connection of having no family, and being in
the same predicament, brings them together to form a bond and a love for one another. This bond
then shows that family is not based on blood, but on caring for each other. Families can come in
many forms, but the constant between all of them is that their love brings them together.
Family can also go beyond the boundaries of home. More people in recent times tend to
spend more time at work than at home. This causes co-workers to spend a high percentage of
their day together. In the Huffington Post, there is an article titled Why You Should Care About
Having Friends at Work. In this article they claim that more than eight in ten American workers
experience job-related stress. Due to this fact of how often work stress happens and how many
people it affects, a bond can be formed between the common problems. An example of this being
a group at work dealing with their disrespectful manager. With all of them going through the
same experience, they might tend to talk and give advice on how to deal with the situation. In the
Chicago Tribute newspaper, their article says:
A recent survey by At-A-Glance, which makes organizing and time-management
products, asked, "Do Americans get along with their co-workers?" An overwhelming 97.2
percent of the 1,385 workers polled said they go to lunch with co-workers a few times a
year. Just over 75 percent said they've gone to happy hour, more than 45 percent have had
dinner or gone out with colleagues on the weekends, and 71 percent have attended at least
one special event of a co-worker, such as a wedding or funeral.
Due to this fact, the co-workers, experiencing the common problem of their manger, might go
out to dinner. After a while of dealing with common problems, they might tend to depend on one
another for advice and company. The relationship of being there for one another tends to form a

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family connection. This represents how the meaning of family can just be a group of one another
sharing an experience that brings them closer together and forms a dependable bond.
Friends also seem to form a family-like bond. Due to the fact that friends are chosen,
unlike family, tends to make friends closer than the people someone was born with. Children,
teenagers, and grown adults sometimes do not feel like they have a close or open relationship
with their family members. This tends to leave them feeling like do not have anyone to talk to,
which then results in close connections to their friends. In Michelle Blessings article, Meaning
of Family, states People who have lost close family members may create a family unit of
friends with similar interests and goals to become replacements or enhancements to a lacking
family structure. This type of family unit, while untraditional, can be just as close, if not closer,
than a traditional structure. Even people who have not lost family still consider friends as
family. It is a popular saying for people to introduce or describe a friend as a brother or sister.
Friends often form a family-like connection because the people share a common value or goal in
life. Families are often connected by their religion, like if families meet at church every Sunday
and have a family dinner after. Friends can also share this bond if a group of close friends attend
church together or a group together. If a group of friends all attend a group to remain celibate,
that is a common value that would form a bond between them. It is something that maybe other
people would not understand, and only the group of friends experiencing the same things could
relate to.
In the cartoon Lilo and Stitch, it shows how pets are also family. In this cartoon Stitch is
an alien but is considered like a pet to Lilo. In the beginning, Stitch was trying to run away from
the aliens he is being hunted by. Lilo found him and tried to keep him but he wanted to leave. In
the process of him leaving, Lilo says Ohana means family, and family means to one gets left

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behind or forgotten. Stitch stayed and became a nuisance to Lilos older sister who had to take
care of both Lilo and Stitch. In the end of the movie, Stitch got captured by the aliens after him.
Since Stitch was a bother to Lilos sister, she considered if she should try to rescue him or not.
When Stitch repeated the saying about family, her sister was reminded the meaning. Even though
this is a cartoon about aliens, it shows how a pet, no matter how bothersome, grows a place in
our hearts and becomes like family. This cartoon can be related to a real life experiences most
people with pets go through. This experience would be like when a pet becomes sick and needs
expensive medical attention. The owners are then faced with the decision about if they have the
money to save the pet or to put them to sleep. Pets tend to become a nuisance with their tendency
to chew things and go to the bathroom places where they should not. Even though this is a
common bother when owning a pet, they seem to become an important part to the owners life.
Most owners realize this and decide to save the dog no matter what the price.
The saying Family of Nations in the Merriam-Webster dictionary means a group of
nations united by common historical, political, or ideological ties. In times of need, such as
epidemics, terrorism, or severe weather, countries around the world come together. The world
has seen this in times of war, such as in World War II. During this time many countries including
The United States, The Soviet Union, United Kingdom, China and many more came together to
fight Germany, Japan, and Italy. In recent times when Paris was attacked by terrorism in
November of 2015, countries came together to send money and support for the repair and the aid
for its citizens. Also, there have been many times where severe weather, such as hurricanes, have
damaged a majority of a state, and all of the United States comes together to help and rebuild.
There are many more examples than just these, but this shows that people around the world care
for one another, even if they do not know each other. Soldiers go to different countries to fight a

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war they are not involved in because they care for the others safety and wellbeing. People are
also going to different states to rebuild cities and homes so the citizens involved do not have to
live in shambles of their once standing home. This shows that one does not have to be related by
blood to care for another. Family can just be a nation watching out for the wellbeing of everyone.
Family is a word that everyone has but since every family structure is different, it leads to
the word family having more than one meaning. Religious views might only see it as blood
relatives, but other peoples views might broadened to include friends, co-workers and pets.
There are also many structures to families such as single, blended or foster families. Family is
not determined by blood, structure or gender of the parents, it is determined by love and caring
for one another.