Family loyalty can sometimes clash with personal boundaries.

In this story, a man was asked by his younger brother, who is in jail, to call people on his behalf.

This involved reaching out to gang-associated friends and girls, which made him uncomfortable and unwilling to participate.

However, when he refused to help, his family started pressuring and guilt-tripping him.

Do you think it was a fair request? Read the full story below to find out more.

AITAH not helping my brother?

I (23M) and my little brother (LB for short, 20) are not close, yet not distant.

What happened is LB did some stuff.

He was hanging around gangs and ended up in jail for 10 years, I think. I don’t really know.

Ever since then, he has been asking me to help him talk to his friends.

They honestly are a bad influence, in gangs, and idiots.

Females from his Facebook show what their daddy gives them to keep up with them.

This man refused to call his brother’s friends outside jail.

At first, I did it for a couple of months while I was in college trying to pass all of my classes.

It was hard, so I told him no. Now that I am out of college, he is still calling me.

He is asking me to make accounts for him. He wants me to talk to people for him, mostly girls.

I am like, “No, I don’t want to.” First of all, the type of girls he goes to are flirts.

The people he wants to make friends with are people in gangs or in trouble with the law, which I want no part of.

His mother started guilt-tripping him.

Then, my mother is telling me we are all he has to the outside world.

I am like, well, he chose to make those bad decisions. Not me.

I chose to stay away from people in gangs and focus on education. LB chose to be juvenile.

When he was on house arrest, he chose to hang out with another criminal before his trial.

He ended up going to jail. Not juvenile detention, but actual jail.

The first time he got in trouble, it was just juvenile school.

The fourth time, he did something bad in his teens and ended up in a juvenile place.

His family thinks he is the jerk for not helping his brother.

Now that he is an adult, he is in jail. I don’t hate my little brother or anything.

I am just not going to help make friends outside of jail. He chose to make bad decisions.

I will talk to him and try to send him money, but I am not going to be doing all of that.

My mother can try to guilt trip me. But no.

Apparently, my other family thinks I am the jerk for not helping LB out like that.

It is just a no for me. But, I guess, AITA for not helping out my little brother?

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Okay, this is a clear case of needing to draw a firm line. His brother is in jail because he did something wrong… several times.

You can’t blame OP for not trusting his brother. After all, helping family doesn’t mean getting involved in risky or questionable situations.

He can still support his brother in healthier ways without crossing his own boundaries.

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.

Indeed, right?

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Protect yourself from criminals, says this one.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who wants her daughter to help pay for her own cell phone, but her daughter says she can’t force her to get a job.

This one agrees with OP.

Finally, another honest opinion from this person.

You can care about family without joining their bad decisions.