A Huge Argument With Kareem

We had a family picnic yesterday for Mother's Day. Kareem had to work that morning. His work was supposed to be late, but a few days ago, they rescheuled him in the morning. He arrived absolutely pissed and everyone saw it. He claimed it was due to work and the rainy weather and that he should not have come even though it was a few miles from his work. So I let him leave after seeing everyone.

When he came home, he was absolutely upset and said he'll never hang out with relatives unless he feels like it. He no longer feels that he should hang out with family just because they are blood. Kareem told me that he got a girlfriend a month or so ago. She's a Chinese student from one of his classes. He seems to have bought her jewelry already. The same thing he's done for his previous girlfriend. He buys them stuff instead of using his salary for food and then asks me to add money to his account.

He told me that he no longer cares what I think about traditional Druze marriage and that he will marry whoever he likes. He told me that Salem was dating his high school friend Deborah, Aiden's ex, and that his parents don't care. It's hard to raise him our way when my own brother doesn't care. When I told him I still do, he was upset because he wants me to put his happiness first. I said I do, but I reminded him that I wish to retire in Lebanon since I can't affors anything here, and that even though he was born to Lebanse Druze parents, he never got to know my parents. So marrying a non-Druze means that there's zero chance that his wife would come to Lebanon or send the kids with him to Lebanon. And if does come, it would be a one-time trip and his kids, who wouldn't speak Arabic or know the culture, would say never again, just like he's doing. So marrying a non-Druze is an automatic