Canadian Politics Today

I've been in Edmonton visiting my family.  Things aren't that good.

Mom has about a year left to live, they figure.  She's in her early sixties.  That's how things go in my family. The cancer started in her lady parts, metastasized, and they've been trying to treat it, but it looks like the part that spread to her intestines is what will finish her off.   Mom and I aren't close, to say the least, so this isn't a big blow to me.  But... she may be a physically abusive, emotionally abusive abusive alcoholic, but she's still my mom. Movies have conditioned me to believe that before she is gone for good we're supposed to have some kind of moment together. Is that realistic? Should I try to make this happen? Should I care much if it doesn't happen? I don't know.

Dad is a wreck.  He's in his late sixties and his brain seems to be declining faster than it should for his age. Probably anxiety over mom is a factor in that. The medical troubles he had last year probably didn't help either. Still, he's not old enough to be declining this fast. He can't remember stuff that he used to. We were out driving to his sister's place west of Edmonton and he was looking for a place where the pavement turns to gravel as a landmark where we were supposed to turn. But that gravel was paved 30 years ago, and he used to know that. He used to be so smart and so capable and now he seems like a shadow of his old self.

And my brother is ... no help at all. He's mostly just trying to scam money out of dad. He has managed to convince Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped to classify him as "severely disabled" due to chronic depression, but I have a hard time seeing it. I'm not ignorant of mental health struggles. I've fought my own battles on that front for much of my life. I know it isn't easy. But when I am with him, I just don't buy it. I don't sense it at all. I don't feel someone who is too depressed to work, I just sense someone who feels entitled not to work. I've had to fight and claw for everything I have in life, and I've done a pretty good job for myself without any help from my parents or the government or anybody else. I look at my brother and see a guy who had all the ability in the world who couldn't do anything with it and has only survived by leeching off my parents and by abusing government programs and I just can't respect him. And you'd think that since he's being paid by the government to do nothing, he could spend some of his copious free time to help out my parents who desperately need it, but he doesn't. He's more or less useless. I got there and mom and dad had this list of chores for me to do, which I was happy to do for them, but it occurred to me that they could have asked my brother to do this stuff, but they didn't, because he's useless and they know he can't be bothered to do much of anything. He does the bare minimum to help them, and when he does he has his hand out for money. Gas money, food money, etc. They give him lots of money, and probably most of it he spends on his online gaming habits or on fast food. Just really disappointed in him.  Thinking back as long as I can remember, I'm not sure if he's ever done anything that didn't directly benefit himself. Is that the definition of a sociopath?

Anyway, wasn't a good visit. 

 -k