I have a brother in jail

It sucks!  It really does.  There are many reasons why I feel it sucks having a brother in jail, but the main reason is that he is there because he really committed a crime.

We had a very good childhood.  My parents weren’t rich, but they gave us all they could to make us happy.  They taught us how to be good men when we grew up, and they were responsible enough to let usknow how destructive substances abuse can be.

My brother became an addict when he was still young.  My parents, but specially my father, tried and tried to help him, but help is not what he wanted.  He was, and possibly still is, a slave to drugs.

For some reason, it is hard for me to go and visit him.  I know that it will make him good, and that my visits might help him, but I feel like I’ve lost my hope in him.  He’s not the same boy who inanother time would seat besides me to play video games.  He is a man now, and he must pay the price of his actions, including the ones that sent him into jail.

After many years now, it is very likely that my brother gets a parole.  And still, I feel like I wouldn’t want to go and visit him.  It is a strange mix of feelings, including the fear to see him goingback to the same old and destructive behaviour.