well friends, a lot has happened the past few days.  I've been with my family quite a bit.  I love my family so much.  My brother is a true pimp.  He's got a lot to learn but that's ok because he's in the right place to learn it.  My mom and my dad worry me.  I don't think they'll break up but they certainly aren't as happily married as they have been before. 

I think it has a lot to do with my brother.  I don't know who's fault anything is, or if there even is anyone to blame.  I don't really understand the dynamic at all, but it seems like it follows a pattern.  My brother has a responsibility which he neglects.  My father gets upset about it and tries to micromanage.  For whatever reason, my brother doesn't meet my dads expectations.  (I don't know why.  Maybe it's because he's being micromanaged and figures someone else will take care of it.  Maybe he resents never being given praise for good works.  Maybe he feels like no matter what, dad won't think it's good enough.  Maybe he's lazy.  Maybe he just forgets.  You can't tell someone to remember to remember.  I don't know.)  My dad punishes my brother, but the punishment does not motivate him.  So my dad tries a different punishment and a different punishment, but none of them work.  Not to mention, he elects a punishment on the spur of the moment, and then later he "forgives" my brother and doesn't follow through on his threats.  From what I've learned about psychology, not following through on a threat is one of the worst things you can do because if you do then people will start to expect it.  Anyway, then my dad gets upset and takes it out on everyone around him by being generally petty; doing things like saying something that is crazy confusing (or misspoken) and then being upset that people don't understand, or acting like it's everyone else's fault that he can't hear what they say (he's loosing his hearing).  This upsets my mom so she feels sad and bad and just bottles it all up inside.  She just keeps it hidden away where no one else can see it, maybe she tells a few friends but she's to smart to do something spontaneous that would make the situation even worse.  This bottling it up affects her greatly, because she is not a woman who should keep things stuffed inside of her.  I can tell that she's not herself when she does.  It's really sad because she has such a delicate flower but when she carries this huge weight it crushes her down.  This affects her relationship with my dad and my brother, because she doesn't have the patience to deal with my brother's neglect or my father's pettiness, so she tries her hardest to ignore it and make it go away. 

I don't know what to do.  I don't think there's anything I can do.  While I'm worried about my little brother some, I'm pretty sure that he'll turn out ok, because he's still in that stage where he can grow and learn and change.  I'm more worried about my dad.  I'm afraid that he's going to end up being a bad father, and that will ruin the rest of his life.  Being a good father is one of the most important things in every man's life, I guess.  If you screw it up, you're screwed big time.  No way around it. 

I feel like he has to find his own way, and make his own peace with himself.  I don't think there's anything I can do to help, because I'm not in a position where he would graciously accept it from me.  Kallen men have always been a disappointment to their fathers.