I would ask you this: What is it to be a mother? Is the one and only prerequisite for becoming a child’s mother the act of giving birth? Or is the woman not required to love the child she bears in order to be known as that child’s mother? Is love secondary to genetics? Or are genetics secondary to love? “But in the end, my point is a simple one. I know this is a different way of thinking,” the man said, understanding the difficultly they were having. “A woman carrying a child in her womb and giving birth to the child does not make a woman a mother. “You would say then that a man and a woman who give birth to a child are not necessarily the parents of the child?” Maria said, recapping. We must define our family, not by who we share blood with, but by who we share love with.” It must be defined instead by the unseen substance that flows from the heart. The depth of the bond is defined by the depth of the love felt. Bonds are created from the presence of love. He continued, “Blood can reveal shared genetics but nothing more our blood does not dictate who we shall love or who shall love us, as such blood does not dictate who we have bonds with. Samuel likewise, was reaching to understand this idea. It takes more than a few words to change a lifetime’s way of thinking. The emotional bonds that create a family are not encoded within our DNA.” The man paused he still did not see comprehension in Maria’s eyes, this was not surprising. The coursing blood does not bring love to the heart. “This idea of shared blood denoting a family bond is as absurd as thinking a priest pronouncing two people as married can forge a real union between them. But in a place that is devoid of love-that was founded upon an abandoning of a belief in love-a new method of denoting bonds had to be conceived of and it was the concept of shared blood that was fallen back upon. Love created the bonds between people, shared blood was just a by-product of the creation of the physical body. “Only those who do not believe in love, would disregard love as the defining element of family. Parentage is decided solely upon the presence of love. “Forming a bond between parent and child is not a matter of conception the genetics do not hold the bond. “No, not always…not now,” the man replied. If a man creates a child he is that child’s father. “If a woman bears a child she is that child’s mother. As odd as it may sound to you, a child can be born to a woman who is not its mother and be put into the arms of a man who is not its father.” Now a child can be born unto a man and a woman who are not that child’s parents. “In the time before evil came into being, when a child was born unto their father and mother there was no doubt that the bond of family was genuine. “You see, just as union has been belittled to equal only a legal bonding, so too the ties of family have been belittled-boiled down to the presence of a blood-relation removing love from the equation. …After thinking to himself for a moment the man proceeded, “Perhaps there is something else I should tell you before I go into my family’s past. Is blood the only prerequisite needed to establish familial bonds or is something more not required? In this passage the nameless man sits with a husband and wife discussing what defines family. It was taken from Chapter XIII: The Orphans. The following is an excerpt from The Nameless Man.
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