When is enough, enough?

When do you say “enough is enough?” Lately I have gone through some of the worst time with family and it has left me puzzled and concerned.  Many things were said, lines were crossed, and I’m sitting here now wondering where it all went wrong. As a family I thought we were brought up with ethics and values. But I seem to have been mistaken.

I don’t want to elaborate on things that happened, but I have honestly lost all respect for family members who were once close to my heart.  When I was brought up, a certain set of values where instilled in my life. Like respecting your mom and dad, protecting them and making sure that one day you would be able to care for them. To this day, those values still stay with me. I would go to the ends of the earth to protect them.

I need to tell you a bit of the story just to be able understand why I feel so hurt and frustrated. My grandparents have 6 children. Unfortunately my grandparents live month to month and most month’s battle, but they seem happy. So recently their car broke down. My dad being a mechanic (for the past 45 years) decides to help them because they are still like family to him, even though my mom and dad are divorced.  The car my grandparents drive belongs to my cousin in New Zealand. Now upon hearing the car is broken, my cousin says he will help to pay for the car.

Unfortunately the car is actually more damaged than assumed and is going to cost more. My grandparents, being the kind people they are, don’t tell my cousin. They don’t want him to send his hard earned money to them. Insert my cousin’s girlfriend. The biggest bitch alive. She thinks she rules this family and that everyone is scared of her. Bare in mind she is only 21. She controls my aunt and uncle in New Zealand too. Anyway, she sends my grandparents a terrible message, so terrible my gran is in tears.

Now being brought up the way I was, if I was my aunt, I would have stood up to the little bitch and told her not to speak to my parents like that. But no, my aunt decides to stick up for her, to protect my cousin. I know, it’s her son, but those are her parents, they gave her life. They have always been there for her, and this is how she repays them?

I love my aunt very much. She was always like a second mom to me, but after what has happened, I have lost all respect for her.  I know hatred is a strong word, but I honestly, hate my cousin’s girlfriend.  I swears it’s her life mission to tear this family apart. And unfortunately my aunt isn’t the only person to disrespect my grandparents. My grandparents live in a little town. My two uncles and my one aunt live there too. But their lives are so busy that they make no time for their own parents.

What a disrespectful thing to do. Is this how we were raised? To push our parents aside and only worry about ourselves? Were they not the ones to raise you and put you through school? I would never in my life do that to my parents! So here is my question? When is enough, enough? When do you stop turning a blind eye to the wrong doings of family and cut them off? Am I wrong to want to distance myself from them?