Prepent Day 16: Handling Family Feuds
Some family feuds, big or small, can sometimes take generations to heal. Some never do. Many could have been curbed or avoided. We keep our dirty laundry behind closed doors and often close our hearts to the mere idea of reconciliation with kin. Can we find ways to build again the bloodline bonds of trust? With the current state of divisive politics, this is truer now more than ever.
I really like my cousin A but this past November, after he announced on a mass-family listserv with pride and reason why he voted as he did, I haven’t been able to talk with him, let alone simply reach out. I know I could and should go higher but I’m so disappointed, hurt and mad. We will meet again as cousins do, and better if we were friendly – so why not take a breath and use this sacred time to try and defuse the feud with love?
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO