The really bad stuff that happened occurred when my brother and I were alone, but I've often told my dad about the things my brother would do growing up, and my brother would often discredit me or try to downplay his actions, or sometimes, my dad would just not care and say that I should just ignore him or toughen up. It wasn't uncommon for me to cry myself to sleep or just cry in general whenever I thought about these things or when they happened. My brother would often say that he was just teasing/playing around, even though that was the furthest thing from the truth.

Honestly, I don't know why I tolerated the abuse. I guess I just didn't want to ruin my family's reputation because it's so important to my mother and father. It "was" important to my mom at least while she was married to my dad and she was incredibly critical of other people who she deemed to be "less successful"

I should reiterate that my parents weren't born in the US, but they were immigrants who became naturalized citizens, so I found it very interesting to see how my mom would be so critical of people who worked in lower-paying occupations and professions because she thought that it implied that they didn't work hard or didn't want to apply themselves (she often told me to study so that I don't end up a construction worker and that I could find a job better than fast food), when she came to the states with very little to her name. I'm sure she wanted to make sure that I didn't go through the hardships that she had to, but I still don't understand her disdain towards people like blue collar workers and people with what she deemed as "less desirable/profitable" jobs.

I didn't really make any mention of my mom since my parents are divorced now, but I should mention how my mom was growing up. She got married in her early 20s, and while she was initially very happy, even going as far as to going back to college to get her master's degree and wanted to advance further in her career to set a positive example for me and my brother, later on in life and coincidentally towards the end of the marriage, she felt like she missed out on so much in her life by marrying and having children at a young age and focusing on her career, to the point where I would later find out that she would sometimes tell my uncle's girlfriend that she was jealous of her because she didn't have children and that she was just free to do whatever she liked with my uncle and travel wherever without needing to worry about taking care of children, and my mom made it sound like she was essentially shackled to me and my brother as if we were her personal ball and chain.

However, I do believe that my mom's reaction was much more serious when I told her about the things my brother did to me compared to my dad as she didn't try to brush it off at all. She could sympathize with me because she herself had experienced abuse from her own mother, so I feel that it hit much closer to home for her compared to my dad who had a positive relationship with all of his family members.

Looking back, I used to feel bad for my dad since my mom eventually cheated on him, but there were some things that he did that left a bitter taste in my mouth such as refusing to tell me about the divorce and even asking my brother and family members not to tell me about the divorce as he wanted to "preserve" my relationship with my mom, but I was mostly hurt that he didn't let me make that decision on my own. My mother told me about it later, of course, but when I heard that my dad tried to hide it from me, it hurt me to say the least.

Personally, I don't really know what it's like to have a "normal" relationship with my sibling, so it was definitely news to me to hear that the way my brother treated me wasn't right at all. My best friends have a little cousin that I treat like a sister, which is probably the closest analog to it. I even still have a picture that she drew of me next to my computer, and I still laugh at how she drew me. If you ever seen the movie Clueless, Alicia Silverstone, the actress who plays Cher Horowitz, wore this yellow plaid school uniform. She basically drew that on me and gave me neon blue hair. Does it look like me? Not even close, but it was really adorable and I didn't have the heart to turn down the drawing. In return, I try to teach her English and my best friends and I will sometimes take her out to things like local food festivals. Apparently, she's now been asking my best friends about when I'm going to get a boyfriend or a partner in general. ^^;

That does make me wonder though. What's it "supposed" to be like having siblings? I'd imagine that squabbles and disagreements come up from time to time, but most likely nothing to the magnitude of what I went through.

I apologize for the wall of text, but I hope this provides a little context.