Life goes on, and we all grow old, entering the finish line of our lives. And it’s good if during this period of time, there is someone who will support us, help us in word and deed, give some good advice... Unfortunately, sometimes, when the time comes, we are not at all ready for its arrival - and moreover, we are left all alone.
On the other hand, who, if not we ourselves, actually shape our future, with our own decisions, beliefs and actions? If we do something really good, we can be almost sure - it will return in the future, but everything bad will also come back as karma, instant or deferred.
The story we're about to tell you today appeared just a few days ago on the AITA Reddit community, and now the original post has over 13.4K upvotes and nearly 5.5K different comments. By the way, the opinions of readers about the author of the post and his actions were divided, so let's see what you have to say.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post recently got an approximately $50K inheritance from his late grandfather
Image credits: Caroline Hernandez (not the actual image)
So, the author of the post recently received an inheritance from his late grandfather - approximately $50K. The old gentleman lived a long life, passing away at the age of ninety-one, and it was stated in the will that the grandson was the only one of the relatives who would receive the inheritance, since he was also the only one who came to visit him in his old age home in the past five years.
Image credits: u/throwaway___a_
The man was the only relative who had been visiting the grandfather throughout the last five years
The old man's wife and all his friends were all long deceased, and the Original Poster's parents live in another country, so the man had been trying to visit his grandfather several times a month- to play cards, take a walk and just talk about something. At the same time, the OP honestly admits that the main reason why he came was a feeling of gratitude, because at one time the old man was the only relative who supported him.
Image credits: u/throwaway___a_
The fact is that the author of the post is a combat veteran and, in his own words, experienced the lowest point in his life after getting home from deployment. His grandfather was also a veteran, and therefore understood the OP like no one else. That is why then, years ago, the grandson specially came to him to speak out and calm down. Time passed, but simple human gratitude remained. Even despite the fact that the old man was, to put it mildly, a difficult person to communicate with.
Image credits: u/throwaway___a_
The old man supported the author many years ago, but he held a lot of extreme viewpoints at the same time
The OP says that his grandfather held a lot of extreme viewpoints that he didn't agree with, more specifically against the LGBTQ+ community. Such views became the main reason for frequent quarrels with the grandson, and more than once, the man made himself a vow to stop visiting his grandfather - but time passed, and he still came back. It was all based on the reasons that he listed above.
Image credits: Celyn Kang (not the actual image)
For example, the old man's granddaughter cut all ties with him just because she belonged to the LGBTQ+ community
By the way, maintaining contact with his grandfather almost spoiled the OP's relationship with his own sister, who belongs to the LGBTQ + community and is happily married to a woman. It goes without saying that the old man, with his ultra-conservative views, wasn't happy about this and chose to cut all ties with the granddaughter. Moreover, from time to time, the sister reproached her brother for communicating with their bigot grandpa, but until the old gentleman passed away, nothing really changed.
Image credits: u/throwaway___a_
After the grandfather passed away, the author got a demand from his sister to share the inheritance
And so, after the funeral, the OP unexpectedly received from his sister a demand to share the inheritance with her. She believed that she had every right to half the money. The Original Poster, in his own words, was shocked and basically told her no way as she was not the one who had been visiting and providing care for the grandfather for the last five years.
Image credits: Vera Arsic (not the actual image)
The result was a quarrel between brother and sister and since then they have not spoken to each other. However, the man thought about how appropriately he had acted - after all, his sister did not come to visit her grandfather not of her own free will, but actually fell victim to the old man's bigotry. So the author decided to ask the online community for advice - what should he do in this situation?
The internet seems to be very divided as to who's right and who's wrong in this particular case
On the one hand, people understand that the Original Poster doesn't technically owe anyone anything, and that he actually spent some of his time in the last five years hanging out with a rather toxic old man. And besides, according to some commenters, the OP's sister's being very hypocritical wanting the inheritance when there is a will that doesn't list her. On the other hand, the relationship between grandfather and granddaughter was severed through no fault of hers.
Accordingly, many people in the comments point out that it would be fair for the OP to simply share the money with his sister. In one of the discussion threads, the man added that his sister and her wife earn about four times more than him combined - and that is why her demand caused him such surprise. One of the commenters suggested that the author of the post share the inheritance, but simply donate half to some LGBTQ+ organization. However, the OP replied that he was not sure whether such an idea would satisfy his sister.
If you already have an opinion about who is right or wrong in this particular situation, then please feel free to express it in the comments below the post. And, of course, if you have had to face or witness any similar case as well, please let us know how it all went then.
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