Bothered Brother

[CrimsonCat]

Okay, my brother would probably kill me if he read this, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
My brother quit the Air Force, a year early, a couple of months ago, and he's been staying with us ever since. Yes, he is Pagan. He doesn't have a job, he sits in front of the TV all day, and then at night he takes off and goes to my dreadful uncle's house (my uncle has not been kind to us- in more ways than one) to write. He really wants to be a writer. Then he got the idea in his head that it's SOOO easy to write a bad script and get alot of money out of it if you do it in New York (or something like that). Obviously, my mother and I have almost no faith in it, and we want him to get a job, go to college, and start writing his own stuff again. But it just keeps getting worse, his attitude I mean. He's gotten very selfish. He really acts like a little kid when he doesn't get something he wants, and he even slapped me when I wouldn't get him gas. I had told him that I didn't know how to work the pump, and he didn't believe me. It was true though.
Anyway, is there any advice anyone could give me? It would be greatly appreciated.

[MerrisHawk]

This is gonna sound mean, partly because of what your brother did to you.
Your brother has crossed a line, a serious one. He has no right to EVER lay a hand on you or anyone else in anger. You are not required to be nice and take it just to keep things smooth in the house. What he did qualifies as domestic violence.
Fact - Domestic violence is not just between spouses.
Fact - If the behavior is tolerated he will believe he can do it again, not always in the same way or to the same person.

Let him know that he committed a serious, punishable offense. He can keeps his hands to himself, learn some manners and get a job or he can go live with the uncle. It's not your job to make him happy or take the abuse he hands out. Don't.

His reasons for leaving the Air Force are his own though with one year left it amazes me that he would leave. Sounds like there may be something more to the story? He needs to quit being a mooch and contribute something to the hosuehold.

As the saying goes, cash, grass or a$$, nobody rides for free.

Part two - Writing is nowhere near as easy as he thinks. Just submitting a weak script does not guarantee it will be accepted. A statement like his is seriously offensive to people who work hard at writing. At best he's stalling or doing something else at the uncles house.

[LadyTrinity]

Your brother sounds selfish. I wouldnt give him the time of day if he treated me like that! :sniffsnif

[CrimsonCat]

Believe me, MerrisHawk, I feel EXACTLY the same way you do!!! I actually just learned that his father was exactly the same way, so what can I say? Yes, we have different fathers.
Anyway, it's doubtful that I'm going to charge him with a crime (or something like that) just for slapping me. But yes, I WILL lay the rules down for him. Oh, and just a side note, he left the Air Force because he hated it. He hated being commanded around and being an "underling", or so it seems. Looks like he needs more of it. Anyway, back to the subject. It seems that my mother's and my pleas to actually DO SOMETHING (like getting a job or going to college) aren't working. Just today I was forced to wait at my school for 35-45 minutes because he "didn't hear my uncle's phone ring" (which was my mother calling him to tell him he needed to come get me). She had already called him once before, but he failed to listen. So, pretty much, her strings have been pulled farther than they've ever gone before, and I've never been more embarassed - because my track coach had homework to grade, he got VERY angry, which is highly unusual cause he's a VERY VERY positive person, and he drove me halfway home until we meant my brother on the road.
Yes, he is selfish. Yes, he is spoiled. And the more I read that bottom line on your post, MerrisHawk, the more I want to believe it. It's the one that says,"Relatives you are born with, Family you choose." Yet, how can I just 'give up' a brother? Even one so selfish and, basically, useless such as him? It's so very confusing. Thank you both for your thoughts though. No, they do not offend me. Why? Because they speak the truth.