Re-post
Sorry, just wanted to get this thread out of the introductions forum.
Thanks again, everyone, for your generous replies. My brother is the last member of my family alive, and we are on Facebook terms, but that is basically it. There is a deep complication here that I have not even wrapped my head around yet. A few years ago, I confided in my sister on a phone call about my brother's abuse. I can't tell you why I did so, it was totally out of character in our relationship, but I blurted it out. There was a pause and then she told me that he had done the same thing to her. There was another silence as that horrible fact sank in on both sides. A year later my sister was dead from an overdose of prescription drugs. We never spoke of it after that first phone call, and now she is gone. So I am left with the probability that her drug addiction and eventual death most likely were at least in part, his responsibility too. Who else in the family may have been his prey is unknown, but I know that he and his wife raised their grand-daughter and I have often wondered if I should say anything. In any case it is too late. I don't hate him, but perhaps that will come with time and true realization of his perfidy. My wish would be to forgive him but to let him live his life out away from me. The less harm perhaps that way. I'm sorry for the detail, but it seems central to my situation.
Thanks again, everyone, for your generous replies. My brother is the last member of my family alive, and we are on Facebook terms, but that is basically it. There is a deep complication here that I have not even wrapped my head around yet. A few years ago, I confided in my sister on a phone call about my brother's abuse. I can't tell you why I did so, it was totally out of character in our relationship, but I blurted it out. There was a pause and then she told me that he had done the same thing to her. There was another silence as that horrible fact sank in on both sides. A year later my sister was dead from an overdose of prescription drugs. We never spoke of it after that first phone call, and now she is gone. So I am left with the probability that her drug addiction and eventual death most likely were at least in part, his responsibility too. Who else in the family may have been his prey is unknown, but I know that he and his wife raised their grand-daughter and I have often wondered if I should say anything. In any case it is too late. I don't hate him, but perhaps that will come with time and true realization of his perfidy. My wish would be to forgive him but to let him live his life out away from me. The less harm perhaps that way. I'm sorry for the detail, but it seems central to my situation.
