Big Brother, Little Brother

I am the kid in the middle. I have six brothers. Yes, all boys. I quite understand the almost audible gasp and silent, “Poor mother!” in the eyes of women when I tell them this. Three of my brothers are older and three are younger. I am both the big brother and the little one. Strange how such an accident of nature embeds itself in us and determines much of our personality and our way of relating to others.

When I meet you, whoever you are, I am your “little brother”. I need you to be there for me. There are things I am too small to do by myself and I need your help. I admire the strengths I see in you and I want to “grow up” to be just like you. Please don't forget that when you walk too fast for me and I can’t keep up, I am afraid I will be left behind and won’t be able to find my way home. What you say to me, how you look at me, and how you treat me matters: it builds me up or puts me down. I want to learn from you and depend on you. I trust you. I am grateful you are my “big brother”, my “big sister”. You are my family.

When I meet you, whoever you are, I am your ‘big brother”. I want to be there for you. I am concerned about your well-being. I want to help you when I see that you are struggling. I do care about you and want to protect you from being hurt. I am sorry I sometimes resent you because you take up so much of my time and so much space that I would like to keep for myself. Yes, now and then, it annoys me that I have to slow down so that you can keep up with me. But I do love you and want to teach you things and take you along with me. You are my “little brother”, my “little sister” and I am grateful that you are there. You are my family.