The Green Family...

Growing up I would always hear a lot about them, even though they didn’t live on my block. The family consisted of five boys named George, Johnny, "A", Al, and Drew, an uncle(I forget his name), and the father whose name is Ben. My mother knew the family, but they weren’t really all that close. They would come visit her sometimes, but wouldn’t stay that long. George would actually come to visit me on my birthdays and sometimes even Christmas, but he wouldn't stay long enough for me to even remember who he was.

Everyone always used to say getting to know the family was important. My mother said the family liked people who were educated. She said I should do well in school, because that will help me build a strong, long lasting relationship with them. She said everybody needed them. She would get sad and act kind of funny when they weren't around. That behavior was kind of weird to me, because I mean me and my friends didn't really know the family, but we were still happy??? We would laugh, we would play, and we weren't worried about getting to know some family who didn't want to be with us. My friends also said there parents had similar feelings towards them. We were kids, we were young, and we just didn't quite understand.

When I was about 13 or 14, I got formally introduced to the boys. My friends always used to play games to determine who the boys would hang out with the most. We would roll dice, play cards, and do almost anything else just to determine who they would stay with. I finally started to understand why everyone wanted to hang with the family. They had the hook up! They took care of a lot of things for you. They could get you sneakers, nice clothes, and they could take you wherever you wanted to go. Even the girls thought you were cooler if you hung with them. The more we hung out and the more we got to know each other, the more I wanted them to stay. Even though we were kind of like friends, we never really got too close. I was too immature, too irresponsible to keep them around. So when I acted careless, they would leave me. When I would realize it, they would already be gone.

As I got older, I started to see how hanging with the Green family became more serious. That’s when I met the father, Ben. Ben was the man, the most powerful and influential member of the family. He was always talked about on TV, on the streets, everywhere. People would lie, cheat, steal, sell drugs, even kill… just so they would have to opportunity to hang with Ben. My best friend wanted to hang with Ben so bad, that he tried to go into the Green residence to kidnap him. He ended up getting caught and went to jail for it. My mother always told me you had to earn your relationship with the family, you couldn't just take it. The Green family was tricky. They kind of had a way of making people think you needed them more that you really did. It wasn’t really there fault though, because they were manipulated by the media and by society in general. Some people kind of get this false sense of entitlement if they have a long relationship with the family. I see people all of the time sacrificing time with there families and loved ones, just so they could work to obtain a stronger bond with the Green's. I mean is this relationship what life is all about?

Now the Green family was cool(especially Ben) and I like when they are around, but going all out for them was never that serious to me. I don’t let my relationship with them consume me, or stress me out like I see it do to others. I have seen it indirectly take over a lot of people’s lives. I am conscious of that, and won't let it take over my own. I have built a strong enough bond to be able to call on them when I need them, but us being close isn’t my ultimate motivation. My relationship with them doesn’t make me who I am. They don’t make me cool. I am cool all by myself. I hate when I see people sacrifice there dignity, time with loved ones, or even there freedom, just for a chance to be closer with them. While we all should all take care of our relationship with the Green family, we should also realize that our other relationships with our own family and friends are the ones that are most important, and at the end of the day the most valuable.

Browsing the pictures of my computer, I was able to find a picture of the Green family portrait I saved...

Ok that's all for now... thank you for visiting and stay tuned...