This summer was… a whole time… for everyone. Without going into super specifics, let’s just say that I started getting into arguments with almost everyone I had ever met, including and most especially my family members. It was very interesting to see in real-time how family members would say whatever they believed (whether anyone had asked for their opinion or not) because they had this notion that I would not or could not cut them off because I love them.
Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for me, I’m part of Gen Z, so being blood-related family doesn’t hold nearly the weight they expect it to. But I digress, I held onto the idea that I could at least remain friends on Facebook with my very conservative grandmother. And for a few months, this was true. We didn’t speak, but we were passing Facebook friends, and I felt like I was still getting invited to Thanksgiving.
Then, we got into an argument. I won’t be too specific because I’m not sure what Her Campus wants us to talk about. The important part, in my mind, is the part of our argument that was somehow about Marxism, but she focused on communism in particular.
Let me tell you, I was infuriated to no end. I am less than a year away from having a literal degree in philosophy, and she was trying to explain Marx’s philosophical ideas to me? It was one of those moments when I tried to use the knowledge I’ve been cultivating for three years, but the person receiving what I was saying didn’t actually care that they were wrong.
And I realized later that night, when I was smoking cigarettes in order to calm myself down, that this level of fury at being lectured at and talked down to just because I’m younger just… wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t good for my health to get so angry, and I couldn’t see why I had to stand for utter disrespect just because my grandma didn’t agree with me. So, the next time she made an ignorant comment on one of my posts (after she said she’d stop commenting), I blocked her. I haven’t spoken to her since, and it has given me so much more peace in my life.
I just want to finish this by saying that it’s entirely okay to cut people off from your life because they don’t respect you as a person and interacting with them is detrimental to your health. There is nothing wrong with that. People, and especially family members, need to realize that our generation, the Millenials and Zillenials, will not subject ourselves to disrespect just to keep in touch with family. I promise it’s not worth it.