Differences That Are To Extreme Levels

Heyya! I’m just your average boyish-nerdy-geeky-weird-adventurous-kinda-sorta-sporty-twenty-year-old girl. And I have a younger brother. He’s 13 years old and all he does is school (somewhere on the average), and computer games.

School has been over since 19th of March. Since then, his life had been sleep-eat-computer games (shouldn’t even be in plural form because he only plays one game), then repeat. I’ve been trying to get him to go outdoors, even just right in front of our house to catch frisbee or pass basketball. I invited him to go watch kids his age play softball, or sit around the park while eating ice cream, my treat. But no, he just sits there, giving me this idiotic smile. Last year, I bought him a sketch pad because he was always curious about my art, but he’s gotten to only three pages. I bought him books. Taught him the basics with the guitar and piano. Nothing sank in. After a few hours, it’ll just be him and that damn computer game again.

I know I sound like I’m trying to control his life or something, but it’s just that I feel sorry for him. He has no drive for life or whatsoever. 13 years old, when I was that young, I’d regret not being able to try something new in a day (which is why I’d often get in trouble for all the experiments I’d do with home equipment, plus my dad needed to dismember my bike because I rode distances not exactly believable for someone on a bike). To me, there was always something I didn’t know, something I never saw before, someone I’ve never talked to before, some idea I’ve never tried before, and all that kept me fueled.

But my brother, he’s so… stagnant.

At first, I thought, hey maybe he’s learning stuff from these games anyway, just because his experiences are different, doesn’t mean I should think him less than he should be. Then came one day when his class played basketball and he couldn’t refuse. He was not able to touch the ball for quite a long time since the game started, and when he finally had the chance, everyone called in “Travelling!”, and you know what he did? He went home. Crying. Tantrums. Everywhere.

His classmates followed him home and told me what happened.

Goddamn, he’s freaking 13 years old!

 

So, okay, before I go and rant about other instances when I felt so sorry for him, it’s almost embarrassing,  I just want to know, how do I help him? Or am I the one who needs help?