Oh Brother

I have 4.5 brothers (that .5 is an in-law, not a step- or half-). That's a lot of brothers. Only one of them is older than I am, and he's not older by very much. My brothers treat me badly. They also like to tell me that it's my fault, and then explain (loudly, and with bad language) how I earned their disrespect.

I don't know how to fix it. I can't take all the blame for our broken communication. Doing so would only make the situation worse, because I'd be pretending (badly) to believe it. I'm not going to break myself just to match them.

I can't convince them that something is wrong, because it's easier for them to simply avoid me than admit that something is wrong and that they should care enough to try and fix it. But I care, and I can't fix it.

My consolation: whether they are broken or not, whether they avoid me or not, they will always be my brothers. They can't divorce me.

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