Siblings define themselves by their differences and learn to tolerate diversity, to live with competition as well as cooperation. We learn the power of heeding one another's counsel and authority, just as we also find ourselves as siblings caught up in a complex minuet of shifting alliances. The world of the twenty-first century may be more about partnerships than superpowers, about the unexpected dance between former enemies, and the reclaiming of peer relations. For all of this, our sibling bonds, biological and chosen, will be an important element in our global survival.

Brenda Peterson, Sister Stories