Inequality Is Us

As George Orwell might have observed
'some families are more equal than others'*
which is to say that 'the family' is as likely
a means of corruption, deceit, or even virtue,
as any other organ or mechanism within society.

That family is the organ of society without which
there would not be a society does not make it
matter more that family be seen as virtuous.

On the contrary, where virtue is apt to fail
it matters more that forgiveness be there
to soften the sense of failure, as used by the survivors 
particularly where the failure of the failed
includes being blind to exactly how they failed.

This forgiveness from survivors,
in spite of the family that failed them,
is an important marker of the difference
between lives lived only in the past tense,
stewing old feuds, reliving old wounds,
and making sense of life afresh in the present. 

*The original quote was of course
'All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others',
referring to the rise and rise of Napoleon the pig as leader,
and later the corruptor, of the equality on 'Animal Farm'.