I’m 35 years old, childless, and have been saving for years to buy my dream house. My sister, who’s 33, has four kids. She and her husband live paycheck to paycheck, with no savings at all.

A few weeks ago, she called me in tears. Her youngest twins—both just two years old—had fallen seriously ill and needed urgent, expensive treatment. She asked if I could help financially. I told her no. I explained that I’ve been saving for my own goal for years, and that her children weren’t my responsibility. She hung up immediately, still crying.

The next morning, I woke up to something I never could have imagined. My sister had made a photo collage and plastered it all over Facebook. It showed a picture of me holding her twins when they were newborns, next to another photo of me alone, my face crossed out with red lines and the words: “She chose money over their lives.”

She tagged our family members, posted it in relatives’ chat groups, and even sent it to some of my colleagues. After that, my phone wouldn’t stop ringing. My parents called, my cousins texted, and even my grandmother phoned to tell me how disappointed she was. At work, people look at me differently now—I know they’ve seen it.

My mom came over and tried to convince me to help, saying that “family should come first” and that I was wrong for turning my back on my sister during such a hard time. I understand how terrible the situation is, and I do feel awful about what those kids are going through. But I can’t shake the feeling that this whole responsibility shouldn’t rest on me alone. My sister and her husband have never saved a single cent. They always assumed someone would come to their rescue.

Now I’m stuck, wondering if I truly did something horrible—or if I just finally said no when everyone expected me not to.

So, am I really that awful person my family says I am?

Source: brightside.me