Avoiding The Family

I've written many times about The Family, so much so that people ask me which family I mean, whether it is my gens or my family; my kind, kin, bloodline, consanguinity or house. I suspect that gens in the sense described (follow that link) is probably closest to it; in this city-state, we are of the gentes maiores.

But these few weeks I have been avoiding The Family in a specific sense. The thing about the gens relationship is that it heeds most of all the ties of familial ritual, law, reflexive relationship. When one member takes a hit, the gens rises up around him, regardless of individual preferences. Even if individuals do not approve of that member, the general feeling is that blood is thicker than plasma, acid, or suspended scum.

An elder of the clan said this to me, "Oh, it is all right for young people like you to pretend that nothing has happened, forgive and move on despite the umbrage, the inconsistency, the fact that our name was used in vain and with deceit. But The Family remembers all these things. Just because some of us have an infatuation for certain things does not mean that we forget a wrong. If these lies are told in public, we will burn the tower to the ground."

Well, I am a man of peace. And so, with due respect, I am posting formal avoidance. Thank you very much for your support, each one of you. It is hard to hear lies said about the good you have done and the people close to you. But magna est veritas, et praevalet, and while I am no saint, I am sure that I am far less deceitful than some. I am also better at documentation (the real stuff, not the forgeries that some people create). Heh.