"As if he were my own blood"

I try to work out at the Y about 4 - 5 days each week. I have discovered a neat bonus on the ellipticals. They have their own TVs attached to each machine, so when you are exercising on it, you can tune the TV to any station your heart desires. Well...I have found I enjoy AMC quite a bit, since, 1) I only have basic cable at home, and 2) AMC runs many of the old westerns..which I love, yes, I do, especially John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies..Tall, independent, strong quiet guys who always do the right thing no matter how difficult the task may be. Plus all the scenery from the west...Granted I don't enjoy watching their treatment of horses and women, but it is a movie after all..NOT real life..Anywhoha....

Well on the John Wayne movie I was watching Saturday morning, not sure of the title. John Wayne's character John Henry Thomas, just after the Civil War, stated to another character, that Blu Boy, a full Blooded Cherokee, was his adopted son. Well, the other character proceeds to ask if this was indeed true and John Henry states "Yes it is, and I could not be more proud of him than if he was my (inside my head I was screaming..no no don't say it, but then he did..but it was different), as if he was my own blood" I cringed at first before the word blood was spoken, but once it was I instantly calmed inside...and this is what I immediately started thinking as I was hopefully sweating my butt and hips off...maybe over the years the word "Blood" has been dropped (because of our shortened lingo over the years) from the statement "as if he were my/your own". A statement that can cause unrest in an adoptive parent and the adopted child's heart. It usually causes a "he/she is my own" statement in return...BUT the statement "as if he/she were my/your own blood" ties in the genetic link and that we all understand to be true...........one word, just one word, can make all the difference in the world in how a statement is received.