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Rival's Secular New Year

Dawnofhope

Non-Proselytizing Baha'i
Staff member
Premium Member
My location and inability (and lack of desire and competence) to drive.

No trains or buses?

I'm teaching my 16 year old son how to drive at the moment. Like anyone he just needs someone to help him along and develop his skills and confidence. Its what any parent should be doing to enable their children to have capacity and competence to manage life. Father's tend to be better at the practical things and often not so good on the emotions/empathy side.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
So I don't know why I'm having to save myself from something completely preventable.

Nearly all humans have to deal with that problem sooner or later, in one way or another -- life has its injustices, and it has them for nearly everyone. This is a hated truth no one wants to hear, but that almost no one will ever escape.
 

Misunderstood

Active Member
I woke feeling just as bad as I had when I went to sleep. As usual on New Year's Eve, I cry because my dad is once again displaying his ungrateful behaviour and ranting about something. And because I still feel everything is a bit pointless and really I'd just like to concentrate on HaShem. Every single New Year dad displays this behaviour of venting and moodiness and childishness. Well, I guess I finally snapped. I went to bed and cried and wondered how much effort it would take to slice my wrists open with a kitchen knife. You don't get to be less mature than your kid, I'm sorry you just don't.

So I woke and he comes into my room and wants to rant about his dad yesterday at the get together with our neighbour, because my pa didn't want to discuss religion and removed himself from the conversation. I say he had every right to remove himself if he had no interest in it. Dad says, 'You're really that tired?' and walks out (no, I have no idea what that was supposed to mean either).

A few hours later and I'm up lighting candles. He comes in and says he wants to talk. By my demeanour and my attitude I am quite obviously not in the mood for that. He asks me how I am. I say I spent all last night thinking about how much effort it would take to slice myself open and die. He leaves, goes to his room, comes back and says,
'I've checked. You can't die, you're not insured. I can't afford to put you in the ground.'

Me: 'This is what a parent is not supposed to say.'
Dad: 'Oh me? What I'm supposed to do...me....'
Me: '...Yeah.'
The whole time I'm not looking at him. I'm concentrating on the now lit candles because quite frankly I don't want to look at him. He then starts to go on about what is he supposed to do? Get people to come in, look at me, declare it a scene and go about blaming the family because they should have seen it coming.
Me: 'No, you're supposed to be upset.'
Him: 'I wouldn't really be upset. I understand, I feel like that...' (etc.)
Me: 'It's great to know that neither of my parents would be upset if I killed myself.'
Eventually, he goes into his room and grabs a knife and starts waving it in-front of me and mocking me further and I tell him to go away three times. He doesn't. So I go downstairs, past my grandparents and lock myself in the bathroom.

He eventually comes down and they ask what is going on. He simplifies the situation to such a degree as to basically make it look as though I'm being flippant. From behind the door I say he was waving a knife at me and insulting me. He had called me a religious nutcase (he called me this several times throughout the day) and all sorts. At that point my grandparents realised dad had been a jerk and they basically told him to get lost and that's kind of the worst way ever to deal with that kind of thing.

Eventually my pa needed to pee so I came out and spoke with nana. I said I'm not being funny but I have two [redacted] parents who I kind of really want in my life but they are both nutcases. Occasions like this make that clear. Dad came down again and asked what's up. I was frank and said he's an alcoholic. He denied this and my nana joined my side saying he is. He's selfish, mean and rants on and on and is idle. This is all true and she wasn't saying it for her own health. Dad, instead of owning it, turned it into a full blown shouting match. Long story short, he went upstairs to his room only to come back down and ask me completely irrelevant questions, just to try to annoy me and insult me further. My answer was 'Because I like to [wear this style clothes].' And he wouldn't take it and still kept going on. So I grabbed the kitchen roll that was on the table and hit him over the face with it. I remember doing this only once but the family say I did it over and over again. I then went back into my bathroom hideaway because he still wouldn't shut up or own his alcoholism (I'm not being funny but he's had a drink problem since before he was my age; so at least 3 decades).

Then he leaves again and I eventually go back into my room after dinner and he's taken all my knives. So each time I passed his bedroom door (he went to bed) I kicked it like a mule. He sits up there and rants loudly to himself about us because he knows we can hear him downstairs. He did this over dinner.

I hate him.

I want my knives.

I want my dad to stop drinking.

Why must every day our of lives be fraught with his moodiness and his temper?

You know sometimes I wish I really were a Cyberman. Then I wouldn't have to deal with any of this. There are people out there who have decent parents, even two! And me? I get this. Is there any wonder I want to kill myself? I mean, seriously?
Hello Rival,

I am so sorry to hear of your terrible New Years. I do not know what to say, or what advise you need to hear, maybe you do not want any, but just someone to talk to, that will support you and listen to what you have to say. So for now I will just respond to a few things you said, and let you know I do care about you. You were the first and only person to welcome me on my profile page. It was a couple of years before anyone else ever posted to my profile page again. So you have always been special to me here on RF, just for taking some time and welcoming me. So just know you are special to many people around the world because of how you have treated people here. I am sure there are many who love you.

As far as your dad, I cannot even fathom how a dad could not love and support their daughter. So I do not have much to say about that, because as a dad of a daughter, I cannot even come up with a good reason. I do want to say one thing on the subject for you, and hope it is not taken wrong. This is for you and in no way is in defense of how your dad treated you, or what he said or did. But, for you I think he really does not want to lose you, as inappropriate as it was when he told you he had no insurance for you. I think he was trying to say in a strange way he did not want you to hurt yourself. He also hide the knives, as unmotivated as he is, he at least took an initiative to keep you from harming yourself. I know it was not what you wanted and not a good way to show you he cared. I'm sure you would have preferred he give you a hug and told you he was sorry for all the things he did wrong.

I know I am not your dad, but I say this as a dad, you can give yourself a hug from me, and from what I have read from you, I would say you are a wonderful girl, that I feel I would love and accept you as the wonderful daughter you are.
 
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