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Carol, welcome to the program. Oh, hi. Thanks, Dr. Laura. Yes, my brother who's two years younger than me was a colicky baby, and my father shook him, and he just hasn't been right in the head ever since.

So I'm feeling guilty because he's alienated everybody in our family, including his daughter.

Okay. Do you have any idea what guilty actually means?

Not sure.

Well, you said you are it.

So give me your, give me a, give me a, your definition, not the dictionary one.

Your definition of guilty.

That I should be reaching out. No, I didn't ask what you should be, ma'am. I asked you to give me a

definition of the word. Guilty? Responsible

for another person's happiness. Maybe. Is that what you're after? How can anybody be responsible for everybody

else's happiness? How does that even work? How can you be responsible for my happiness if I drink

and smoke and don't work out and I'm mean to people and I kick my dog. How are you responsible for the

quality of my life? Do explain that to me. I'm interested. Well, I'm not responsible for that.

That's correct. Nobody can be.

Nobody can be.

Of course, there are families in which the parents suck, so they try to make some kid

responsible for somebody else, even the parent, much less another kid, in alcoholic families.

You see that a lot where the kid becomes responsible for the adults, and then they spend

their entire lives confused because I'm responsible, the adults, and then they spend their entire lives confused

because I'm responsible, but hell, I can't be responsible.

I can't make them do or not do anything.

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