My Brother's Keeper

By Anya Shroff

My brother’s keeper

By fourth year Claire D’Agostino

“Which way does a tree fall?…A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.”

― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

When I was in fifth grade, my family decided to see The Lorax in theaters. However, when we were trying to leave the house, my little brother refused to put his shoes on. I remember my parents threatening him, saying that he wouldn’t get to see the movie and go out to dinner if he didn’t complete the simple task. Yet, his stubbornness persisted—he took the punishment (not without crying all the way through it). My mom and I went to see the movie while he stayed at home.

At first, I thought it was funny that he was being punished and I got to hang out with my mom. But sitting in the booth of the Mexican restaurant, I realized that I missed my brother. He never went to see The Lorax, so he didn’t learn anything from it. What I took away was of course the message of preserving the environment; more than that, though, I think it is about who you surround yourself with. How, for example, you treat the Earth and how you treat others will come back to you. It begs us to choose wisely. 

Yet, growing up, we don’t get to choose who we surround ourselves with. Our environment is predetermined. I didn’t get to choose to have a little brother, but he was my first friend. Even though my parents were on the fence about having another child after me, my brother and I were always meant to be siblings. I existed for three years without him, but it is like I knew him before he was born. 

My brother and I’s texts mostly consist of him sending me memes. As I scroll back further, I see our messages from family events, and I remember how we would text each other, just so we were not alone. Sometimes, he messages me on Discord, and I don’t see the notification until I accidentally open the app a month later. 

My brother and I have already spent most of our time together. We have already eaten our breakfasts and dinners together at the same kitchen table. Our relationship now will be defined by my visits home, and when he moves out, it will be when we decide to visit our parents. My family goes on vacation and I watch the scenes from photos in our family group message, because my brother and I now have different spring breaks. 

My brother and I both graduate this year—me from college and him from high school. When I graduated high school, I so desperately wanted to move away from home to find myself and explore the world outside of the environment I had grown up in. Of course, I knew that moving away would mean we wouldn’t live together anymore, but I didn’t realize that it also meant that our relationship would change. I would no longer help him with his essays, and he would no longer help me with all my technology issues. 

My brother and I still fight sometimes. Everybody said that despite the countless times we fought in our childhood, we would someday be best friends. 

My brother and I’s rooms will never be across the hall from each other again. But my brother will always be my best friend.