Blog

Sibling Relationships and Responsibility. My dad told me about a lawyer (I’ll call him “J”) who was interviewing with him for a job to work in his department. During the conversation, J mentioned that he pays for a portion of his sister’s medical school tuition.

After the interview, my dad asked J if he minded if my dad asked a personal question. J said he did not mind. My dad asked if J was paying his sister’s tuition as a loan, or if J was paying the tuition with no expectation of getting it back from his sister once she started earning her own salary. J replied that he had no expectation of being repaid, and that he did not want to be repaid.

J told my dad that his father instilled in him and his sister a strong sense of responsibility for one another. He told my dad that all his life, his father worked very, very hard at the restaurant that he owned, and how his father supported him and his sister the best that he could. His father also paid for his law school. Now that his sister was in medical school, there was a limit to the amount of funds that his father was able to pay towards his sister’s tuition. J felt that now that he can stand on his own two feet, he should put what he had been taught by his father into action by supporting his sister, no strings attached.

Sibling Relationships and Responsibility

Upon hearing this story, I literally felt tears forming in my eyes. The beautiful bond that the two siblings shared made me very emotional. I believe (and wish) that everyone should feel that type of connection with their family. Having many siblings myself, I can truly appropriate the beauty of what J told my dad, and how J conducts himself. I admire J’s father very much for instilling in him the notion of responsibility for his sister. I can only hope that other people feel this way as well!