A woman who ignored her half siblings after the death of their father has received plenty of support from the people of the internet.
Asking for some opinions on the Reddit thread AITA - which stands for “am I the a*****e”, the woman described her dad as “absent” in her life, and wanted to know whether it was wrong of her to ignore her half siblings after his death.
She explained: “I feel like I should clarify that I was in high school when this happened so I was directly impacted by my dad leaving.
“He went from living with us and being a regular part of my life to barely speaking with me because his new wife wanted him to forget his first family.”
The woman said that he also failed to pay child support because his new wife didn’t want him to spend money on them.
She continued: “I have zero interactions with his second wife. I have spoken to her exactly two times in my life, when he died at the hospital and his funeral.
“She seems like she’s a decent parent but I am not willing to develop any sort of relationship with her, even for the sake of my half sisters.”
The 37-year-old woman is older than her two half siblings, who are 14 and 10-years-old.
She said: “We shared a dad, who left my mum after cheating on her for their mum.
“It was a terrible divorce and my dad was basically an absent father after he abandoned us.
“My relationship with my dad and his kids was not close and I would only see them a few times a year if that."
That was until her father was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, and died within six months.
She continued: During that time, I ended up spending more time with him and we became very close again towards the end of his life.
“I still think he did a terrible thing, but I finally forgave him before he died.”
Since his death, the two half siblings have reached out to the woman a few times but she has ignored them.
“They are making me feel very guilty and point blank asked me why I don’t love them.
“Of course I denied it, but she’s not really wrong. I have nothing against them, but I feel nothing for them beyond a general desire to make sure they aren’t in danger.
“If they needed my help financially, I would help out, but I really don’t want to be in their lives regularly. It drags up all sorts of negative feelings from my past that I’ve struggled to overcome.”
She concluded: “So, AITA for basically ignoring two innocent kids who recently lost their dad and just want their sister to love them? Because I sure do feel like one.”
Here is an AITA key for reference:
You're the a** hole (& the other party is not) = YTA
You're Not the a** hole (& the other party is) = NTA
Everyone sucks here = ESH
No a** holes here = NAH
It would seem that the most common response amongst Reddit users was NAH, which stands for “no a** holes here.”
One Reddit user responded to the thread: “I'm not sure how to vote on this one, but I'm going to say NAH.
“You have entirely valid feelings, but so do they. I think you should let them know that you'll always be there for them if they need anything, whether financially or for advice, but you'd really like to grieve alone for now.”
Another added: “NAH.
“They may not like it but you're not obligated to have a relationship with them. Forcing the issue is only going to hurt them in the long run.”
Some were a little harsher than others, with one user responding: “NTA. The last link to them is gone. You owe them nothing.”
Do you agree with the internet, or was this woman in the wrong for her choices?
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