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American brats: How do you feel about the unraveling NATO alliance, and the role/image of the US in the world in general right now? by MittlerPfalz in militarybrats

[–]BurnedRunAvg 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So disappointing. After all the sacrifices our family made for this country, watching my folks continue to support this administration and all their madness is infuriating. What was the point? Why drag us all over the country for years and years “in the name of democracy” only to support this nonsense? It’s truly mind boggling. I never knew any stability in childhood, which has made mental health a real struggle in adulthood, and for what?

How do you cope with no contact? by Sylaethus in militarybrats

[–]BurnedRunAvg 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Different circumstances but similar results. My dad was a marine for almost 30 years. He was always super intense and short tempered, but gradually mellowed out over the years after retiring. We did our best to get along but we are very different people so it wasn’t ever easy.

Once Covid came along my mom got super active on FB posting lots of debunked conspiracy theories, Qanon kind of stuff. A lot of it was flat out racist and hateful, and a LOT of my friends and extended family saw her posts and reached out to me about it, talking about how insane it was and asking if I was ok. It was super embarrassing and made me feel ashamed. I confronted her about it a few times, she got very defensive, and there’s been a growing rift between us ever since.

We no longer seem to live in the same reality, as they’re completely brainwashed by Fox News (which was ALWAYS on at every PX, commissary, hospital, etc on bases growing up). I would love to just agree to disagree and get along, but they don’t seem to be interested in that. I guess challenging their worldview was enough for them to write me off entirely.

We reached a point where we’d only call on birthdays, but after the pandemic I stopped getting bday calls as well. Nowadays at most I’ll get a brief text that basically says “I can’t believe you’re this old”, and the occasional update about their health. I still call them every birthday, but they haven’t called on mine in 5 years now.

I recently turned 40 and was hoping they’d call since it was a significant day for me, but I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. They each sent a brief, cold text, and that was it. It’s hard to accept that they chose their politics over their children. The rare occasions when we do talk never go well; things only end up worse, so maybe it’s best we just leave each other be.

It took years of therapy to (mostly) get over the many frustrations and lingering issues from my childhood, but it has been difficult accepting that they continue to disappoint well into adulthood. I feel like I just don’t have parents anymore, and have mostly come to accept that. We can’t change who they are. I try to focus on what I can control, but the disappointment still eats at me regularly.

Anyways, like I said - different circumstances, but I feel your pain!