Humiliation

One night when I was seventeen, I decided to watch The Sound of Music on TV.  My nineteen-year-old brother watched it too, but he made it clear he didn't like it.  He kept making smartass remarks like "Why don't they live together?"

A more serious matter was the commercial breaks. (Both of my brothers disapproved of commercials on principle.) He noticed that after I'd muted the sound I'd keep looking at the picture so I could restore the sound at the end of the break without missing any of the show.  Irrational, huh?  So he pounced on me to keep my face away from the TV.

I thought, "If he doesn't want me looking at the TV during commercial breaks, I'll just leave the sound on." But no--when the break started, he'd mute the sound himself right away, then pounce on me.  He kept doing this all through the show.  It wasn't like him to be a bully, but he wouldn't quit. (If he quit, that would mean I'd won.) The only reason he kept watching the show was to keep pouncing on me.

In the last commercial break, I was giving him a fight and the parents came in. (I think I missed a bit of the show.) What bothers me is that my sister whispered to me, "Just pretend nothing has happened." All that happened was my ongoing humiliation for over two hours!  My brother got scolded, and he's ashamed of his behavior today.