Selective Amnesia or just lying?

My best friend from childhood was terribly neglected and lightly abused. He had 6 brothers and sisters in a house with no food and their parents left them for days at a time. They begged food from neighbors to live. His mother is dying now and the youngest brother will not speak to her. My friend seems not to understand where his brother is coming from and keeps saying "we didn't want for anything" I don't know if he's lying to himself, thinks he's fooling me or if he really just forgets. His parents would be jailed if they treated children that way in this day and age. Should I try to make him understand his brother or just bud out?Selective Amnesia or just lying?
Can you find a way to gently suggest that he try to be understanding of his brothers feelings without making the dying mother?
Bud (or butt) out.

He needs his own delusional reality to cope with the death of a bad person in his life.

If you like him, he'll process this better in about 2 or 3 years--be there then to listen.Selective Amnesia or just lying?
yep its all between thier family, not to get involved. the kid will grow out of it when he gets older cause you only have 1 set of parents
understand him then but out xSelective Amnesia or just lying?
Your friend may be wrong. But the only thing you can do is tell him that you think he's wrong. Don't harp on it. People need time to come to terms with their lives. If someone isn't ready to accept something like this, then they're not going to. Perhaps at some point he will, but your insistence isn't going to change his mind, and it may cause him to distance himself from you.



It's okay to let him know...once....how you feel about it. But that's really all you have the right to do. Your position will be noted, and if he decides to seek your advice on the subject later he'll ask you.



Try to think of somewhere in your life that you wouldn't be open to this kind of feedback. What if someone came to you and said they didn't agree with who you were dating? Or didn't agree with your religious beliefs? How would their continued insistence on providing their opinion make you feel?