I just need some advice. I has the unfortunate experience of
Provo Canyon School back in '99. Investment, Obs, PI's (physical injections), IPs (infraction points), line structure, class IIs and up, okay it was awful. I saw kids thrown to the ground and railed on. I saw kids tied up in straight jackets, locked in a freezing cold little room, strapped to a cot with cuffs on each corner. it was horrific.
Problem is this: I'm twenty three now. My younger brother is 15. He's getting into some trouble. He knows what I went through, but I don't think he understands the extent, or knows how drastic our parents can get sometimes.
He has already been caught on mushrooms- he was lost without his shoes and ended up having to go to the emergency room because he ate too many. i live far away, and didn't hear about this it until more than a week after it happened.
Our parents are divorced and my brother divides his time between them. When our dad smelled pot coming from my brother's room, he actually drove my brother to the airport and bought two seats to Utah, my brother's a one-way ticket. My brother broke down and told our dad he didn't think he deserved it. Our dad called our mom, and she flipped. She would not allow that to happen to her son. She had no idea our dad had done this and she was very angry that he did.
Whenever she talks to me, she tells me that she would hire the best lawyer to keep my brother from having to go through that. She tells me she would do whatever it takes, even if that means driving down to Utah herself and dragging the kid out in her arms.
Here's the thing: Both my parents really don't seem to care about what happened to me there. i've since gave-up, but whenever I used to talk to them, or just try to tell them about the abuse, they'd get these dumb, blank expressions on their faces and just dismiss it with, "well, we let you come home. we could have kept you there for two more years until you turned eighteen, how would you have liked that? you should be thankful to us."
I was there for seven months.
I love my brother. I would never, ever want to see him sent away, and I, too, would do whatever it takes to keep it from happening, but I just feel like, I don't know. It's not really jealousy, it's more just that I feel like my parents care more about and are more tolerant of him than they ever were for me. It REALLY bothers me because they are so caught up in their own divorce-drama (even twelve years after the divorce itself) that they don't even notice how this makes both me and my brother feel. it bothers my brother a lot.
today I tried to talk to my mom about it, and I asked her if she understands why it hurts me that she is so adamant about keeping my brother from being sent away. She just didn't get it. After mimicking me, and telling me I was crazy, she finally got curious and asked why in the world would that hurt me?
and I said "because i'm your kid too."
and she said "yeah, but you're twenty-three!"
and I said "I wasn't always twenty-three."
I was fifteen when I was sent to Provo. she didn't say anything so I just left.
I don't know what to do. I just know this feels rotten.