''an explosive temper

er the one time saying, “Youare in for it now.”When we were teenagers,for the most part we got alongexcept I couldn’tstand his teasingand puttingme down. Thisone time, I’d hadenough.We each had a friend and thefour of us had gone out onenight. I was 19 or 20 years oldat this point. This was unusualbecause we rarely went outtogether.My friend was driving andhim and his friend were in thebackseat. My brother had beendrinking and when he did, he’dget even harder to deal with.We were heading home and hestarted teasing and putting medown again from the backseat.Then out of no where, he gaveme a hard kick in the back of myhead with his boot.I couldn’t believe he did that.I started swinging at him andmy friend was saying to cut itout because he couldn’t drivewith what was going on insidethe car.When we got home, we bothgot out of the car and I wantedto end his teasing once and forhisputdowns‘‘allall. So I said let’s duke it out rightthere in the front yard. My friendwas trying to hold me back andhis friend was yelling at him tokeep his mouth quiet becausehe knew what wascoming.Mybrotherchickenedout. He totally backed down. Goingthrough that actually let out alot of tension between us and wegot closer after that.Years have past and my brotherstill has the same bad temper.I’ve watched it deeply hurt andalienate those close to him, anddamage his life.‘‘Learn from this:• People don’t always grow out of anexplosive temper. It can lead to biggerand more significant problems.• Alcohol can intensify someone’sanger, putting themselves and othersin a dangerous situation.• If you have a temper that youstruggle to control, get help. If youknow someone who does, tell themhow you feel and ask them to getthe help they need. zName withheld. Read other true storiesfrom past issues by visiting:www.zamoofmag.com andclick on MAG FEATURES.www.zamoofmag.com 67