I've gotten to learn what's important in life and what's not important, and what to spend energy on and what not to. I don't have a family like some of my teammates, but I have a lot of things pulling at me that I have to put my energy into.
My family background was deeply Christian.
By the grace of God, my parents were fantastic. We were a very normal family, and we have had a very middle-class Indian upbringing. We were never made to realise who we were or that my father and mother were huge stars - it was a very normal house, and I'd like my daughter to have the same thing.
It would astonish if not amuse the older citizens to learn that I (a strange, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working at ten dollars per month) have been put down as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.
As a kid we moved around a fair bit as a family. It was difficult to make friends but sport helped. Once people saw you kick a football it broke down barriers. Instead of being the new skinny black kid you were the kid everyone wanted on their team.
Growing up, I knew I was different. But I didn't know what it meant to be Aboriginal. I just knew that I had a really big, extended family. I was taught nothing about who we were or where we came from.
We define family in many different ways: not just by blood but by people with whom we find a common ground and a common bond.
Like all my family and class, I considered it a sign of weakness to show affection; to have been caught kissing my mother would have been a disgrace, and to have shown affection for my father would have been a disaster.
You can't control where you were born, the family you were born into, what you look like; you can't control any of those circumstances. The only thing you can control is how you react.
'Family Life' is a blueprint of my life. It was horrible and physically gruesome in a way the book doesn't attempt to capture. It was emotionally very bleak.
A film like 'Shirdi Sai' caters to the family audiences, while 'Rajanna' evokes patriotic sense in viewers. 'Damarukam,' on the other hand, is a full-length commercial film made for the masses.
There are countless studies on the negative spillover of job pressures on family life, but few on how job satisfaction enhances the quality of family life.
My father suffered much and toiled painfully all his life, for he had no resources other than the proceeds of his trade from which to support himself and his wife and family.
My mother cleaned homes and drove school buses, and when my family was on the brink of foreclosure... I started bartending and waitressing.
Kids can learn a lot about necessities and wants by recognizing what people live without. A common routine, but one that should not be overlooked, is having a family donation to a charity for those less fortunate. Ask your kids to search for items, toys, or clothes that they no longer use and contribute those items a collection box.
My uncle is a hemophiliac, and my brother is one as well. I am a carrier, and it's a disease that my kids also deal with. It's something that has affected my family and I for so long, and I think it's actually what drove me to comedy as a means to cope during tough times.
When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth.
After I got my gold medal, I thought, 'This isn't just me. It belongs to my team, my friends, my family, the fans, everybody who's impacted my life - this is our gold medal.' So when someone asks to try it on, I'm like, 'Sure, why not?' I might be a little too relaxed about it, but why would I keep it to myself?
For the family living paycheck-to-paycheck, or those at risk in their current living situation, access to affordable housing is pivotal to their safety and long-term stability.
I don't have a ton of friends, but the friends I have are great ones. I don't have huge family, but the family I have is a great one.
I was the first in my family to go to college, and I waitressed all the way through, using my earnings to pay for a bachelor's degree first and then a master's. I resented classmates who didn't have to work real jobs, the ones who had the luxury of taking unpaid internships that would eventually position them for high-paying careers.
A lot of people like to ask me, 'Ali, how on earth do you balance family and career?' Men never get asked that question. Because they don't.
Me and my family are straight. I am blessed. I am alive, man, and I am healthy, and that is the only thing that matters. Me and my family, everybody else, it really doesn't matter because why do you care about somebody talking negative about you if they don't know you?
As a premature baby myself, my family faced many challenges in ensuring that I had a healthy start at life. There are so many obstacles for these babies and their families that each new day is a milestone.
Everybody in the family decided to get a tattoo each as a sign of togetherness and pestered me to get one. You have to be with the times, and I'm glad my tattoo isn't scary or anything.
I had five brothers and sisters. Four of them older, and some of them played instruments, and we would get together and have family recitals and raise money for the church. I belonged to a wonderful church community that encouraged me to sing.
I love cooking for myself and cooking for my family.
You take care of you and your family first. Then you go to your neighborhood, and then you spread it on out within the community.
I'm pretty blessed when it comes to clear skin. I owe that to being Cape Verdian. My whole family has great skin. My grandfather is 80 but doesn't look a day over 50. And we all love the sun, too, so blessed is an understatement!
I find the family the most mysterious and fascinating institution in the world.
Life goes by really fast, and it seems that there are times when you're burying a lot of friends and family. And then there are times that feel really precious and everybody is doing okay. This is one of those times.
As I wrote about my childhood, I realized that there was no big tragedy. Being multiethnic is not a tragedy. I didn't have any big life-threatening illnesses, no tumors, no kidney malfunctions... I came from a very poor family. I was chubby as a kid.
The hardest thing for me was leaving my friends and family behind.
All the songs I write are about human dynamics, whether it's with girlfriends, boyfriends, or family.
The family that brunches together stays together. My cousins and I swear by this rule, and Sunday brunch with them is like a detox session.
First and foremost comes my family and my life with Brad. We have so much joy in raising our children and teaching them about the world that nothing really compares to that.
We care for each other and care about our family, and we are both working towards the same goal.
When Jesus says you must leave your family to follow Him, he doesn't necessarily mean physically. He means leave your dependence on them, make an emotional break with them.
I feel incredibly successful. I make a living as a writer and am able to help support a big family, my church, my bleeding-heart causes.
I realized my family was funny, because nobody ever wanted to leave our house.
I've felt like an outsider all my life. It comes from my mother, who always felt like an outsider in my father's family. She was a powerful woman, and she motivated my father.
I live quietly at home among my family and friends.
I can't betray anyone. I don't know what it's like to really betray someone. I'm very loyal to my circle, my family, and those I hold close to me.
Boys used to call me Soda in school days. Soda means 'serving officers daughters association.' I miss those days when I had a very protected life: one could get close and bond with other army people that they gradually would become your extended family.
I have lots of friends, but I'm probably a terrible friend to all of them, even my family. I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself with no friends later on in life. My friends become my enemies.
A betrayal in a family is much more devastating than a betrayal among friends, or even lovers.
I believe with all my heart that America remains 'the great idea' that inspires the world. It is a privilege to be born here. It is an honor to become a citizen here. It is a gift to raise your family here, to vote here, and to live here.
I'm most passionate about anything to do with nature and the simple things. I love taking walks with my family or my friends and seeing nature. And that's why I love living where I live because I live up in the desert area in the mountains.
That is the thankless position of the father in the family - the provider for all, and the enemy of all.
I think about the Arabs not as enemies but as cousins. Even when we are in a fierce conflict with them, they are more of a kind of family - with all the problems of a family. We have to live with them.