He Called His Sister Cruel for Her Tattoo Idea. Is He a Jerk?

I’ve heard of tattoos being dumb, stupid, clever, cool, fancy, etc.

But I’ve never heard someone say a tattoo was “cruel”.

But that’s what’s going on in this story from Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole?” page.

Get the whole story below and see what you think.

AITA for calling my sister cruel for her tattoo idea?

“Sis is 28 I’m 26M.

My sis N has always had a strained relationship with our parents especially my mom. I am clearly not privy to the reasons because things are fine with me and my parents. When N went to college she met her creative writing professor as a freshman and they got close immediately.

They would do a lot together and worked closely on a few different writing projects. N never specifically said this, but it was obvious to anyone who saw them interact that they had a substitute mother/daughter type relationship. Which hurt my mom a lot to see. I always thought she’d grow out of it or that the prof would move on but ten years later they were still very close.

About a month ago the prof d**d unexpectedly and it devastated N. She was really dperessed over the holidays which of course was all in front of my mom and was a difficult reminder that N loved the prof as a mother way more than she ever loved my mom as a mother.

She still talks to my parents and stuff and they don’t fight or anything but N is very distant and doesn’t tell them anything about her life beyond the bare minimum. My mom tried to comfort N but N was doing her distant thing and didn’t want comfort.

Something unfortunate that happened to N is that when she got the call that she d**d, she was brewing tea and in the shock of the news she spilled boiling water on her arm which burned her kinda badly on her wrist.

I think the burn was like on the borderline of 2nd and 3rd degree, and definitely still looked pretty rough during the holidays. N said it was especially hard because in addition to the physical pain, every time she looks at it she is reminded of the moment she found out the prof d**d. Which I totally get.

I was on facetime with N and she said she talked to her tattoo artist friend who said that the burn should be able to heal well enough to get a tattoo over it. N then excitedly told me about her idea which is a type of flower that the prof gave her a bouquet of for her undergrad graduation.

My mom was so embarrassed that day because she didn’t get N flowers but the prof did and N was parading them around so happy and it was a reminder of their connection. I guess N and the prof exchanged these flowers for every special occasion like birthdays etc.

So now she wants to get a decent sized tattoo in a highly visible spot of something that will remind everyone of the prof. I told N that this seemed really cruel to my mom who already feels cast aside and like she’s in exile from N. And that’s without the constant permanent reminder.

N kind of scoffed and said “I can’t believe you think you have the right to tell me not to do this,” called me an a** and hung up and is still not talking to me except for a very brief text saying congrats for a promotion I just got. My parents aren’t commenting. My dad said I should have just kept quiet even though he agrees and my mom made no comment but seemed grateful I stood up for her. I feel like I was just being protective of my mom.

But AITA?”