Ever heard of a saying "6 of one and half a dozen of the other" to be honest from the story and the way you have conducted yourself in the replies on this thread your half the problem here. It's not always nice to hear it and believe me i've been there, i used to fight with my dad quite alot, to the point of hospital visits for both of us. It's only when you get to look back at these situations or you view them from an onlookers perspective is when you can really pick the points out.

I don't want to judge too much, as much as you've told us we are only getting one side of the story here and i think the story from his side would be a lot different. You say you sufferer(d) from depression, i don't disbelieve you one bit on that but you have to realise that depression is a very selfish problem as much people suffering with it feel very little self worth when they're at the lowest points, it's a very inwardly disorder and depressives have a tendency of turning everything as a personal attack and any let down could feel calculated or plotted.

I think you and your step dad are as much to blame as each other, there is no right or wrong here only two people failing to misunderstand each other. Try to think this story through from your mothers perspective, looking back my mother had to watch me beat the shit out of my dad when to be honest he hadn't really done much wrong, put me down at the wrong moment and i went skitz.

We are all human at the end of the day and we call all say things we don't mean or promise things that we intend on doing and never get round to it, his selling his truck is his perogative, quite frankly it's non of your business. If i was in his shoes and you were shouting at me for selling it i would flip and give you the beasting of a lifetime, you could have handled that much better as could he have handled certain situations better.

Violence is never the solution and looking back i hope for your sake you regret doing what you've done, sounds like your hormoans are all over the place.

I feel for you man. I had acne that destroyed my self esteem and sleep problems and struggled with depression as well throughout my teens. I've had to deal with a lot of shitty people in my life too. But I think you were wrong this time. It sounds like you have some anger issues you need to workout. Figure out a way to calm yourself when you start feeling angry. Just walk away next time.

Your step-dad does sound like a jerk though, try to get outta there quick! lol

I Wish you all the luck in the world, life really can rain down shit when it wants to.

Too long, don't read.

Not because I'm not interested because a text that long, full of excuses, means you wen't right to beat him.

Also, you need to get out of this house. As long as he doesn't hurt or disrespect your mum, you have no legitimate reasons to beat him, ever.

I'm staying somewhere else and I tried walking away and he continued on harassing me.

What exactly counts as harassment in your book?

I'd like to know too. I'm assuming the step-dad might have insulted which is awful and shouldn't happen. However, this is NOT an excuse. The stepdad didn't force him to turn around with insults horrorfest did that willingly with the option to just leave.

I'm sorry, but after reading this over a few times, I could not find anything considered to be anything but a non-issue (except kicking an animal. I do not condone actions like that at all). My grandmother reached a stage of senility where, no matter how much you bent over backwards to do things for her, she would still spend most of her day talking to herself with rather nasty stuff about the people that help her, loud enough for everyone to hear. Yes it was heartbreaking to hear such things, but I never got to a point where I wanted to "beat her ass" over it.

Plenty of your issues, however, seemed to converge to one aspect: dependence. If your stepdad breaks a promise that relies on something you're dependant on, and complains about you not doing things DEPENDANT on maintaining a household, then I suggest that you break that dependence. Move out, get a place and do whatever it takes to keep that independence. It might involve moving far away to somewhere cheaper, or working long hours. After a year or so, come back to this issue and see if your mind has changed on the severity of the situation, because I guarantee you, independence will make a lot of issues you're experiencing now pale in significance...

Next week, on "when red-necks attack"...

No but really I would echo what others have said, you seemed to be in the wrong but it doesn't sound like a good home life.

I feel I need to make some comments, here.

Horrorfest, you were wrong. No matter how much he might have called you names or otherwise verbally harassed you, it's no justification for getting violent. But that's not the real issue, here.

As others have already pointed out, your own story has you refusing to do anything around the house unless you're directly compensated. It has you turning to your mother when your problem is with your stepfather, which can only cause friction in their relationship (which you claim to not want to have turn sour because of you).

You complain about him not living up to his word. And yet, he did take you driving, and he *was* offering it with nothing in return. Meanwhile, have you ever offered him any help? Have you ever heard him doing some yard work, or some cleaning around the house, or anything like that, and gone to check if there was anything you could do to help (even if it was just offering to get him a drink)? Based on your story, I get the sense that you didn't - after all, you get nothing from it.

You spent quite a bit of time in your story invoking your "problems". Your "bad sleeping problems" results in you not waking up until early afternoon - so when one of them offers you driving lessons in the morning, you refuse because it doesn't suit you. And then you complain about them not offering driving lessons. As you've said, your stepfather offered to sell the car to you before he sold it to anybody else - you turned him down. Why should he then feel obligated to keep you apprised of his effort to sell the car to other people? It's not like he promised you the car and then went behind your back to sell it to somebody else.

Your acne situation was invoked to justify a "really bad life". I'm sorry, but are you kidding? There are people out there who were constantly bullied, people who were ostracised from even their own family for being gay, people who grow up in families that can't even afford more than one small meal a day, if that. There are people who grew up on the streets, people who grew up with major handicaps, people who grew up without any family at all. Now, I'm not diminishing your depression - that's entirely valid, and I recognise that nobody can challenge you over that... but it was only depression - that is, the rest of your life sounded pretty solid, to me. You don't get to use acne-invoked depression as a justification for the build up resulting in you violently beating up a guy for calling you names.

As such, I have a few suggestions for you:

1. Learn to let out your anger - don't keep it bottled up. If you're upset with your stepfather, approach him and let him know, feeling the anger but remaining calm about it. If he calls out your manhood or otherwise verbally harasses you, simply respond by pointing out the absurdity of making such claims, and then asking why he feels it necessary to demean you. Feel the anger, but don't let it control you.

2. Much more importantly than 1, start to help out more around the house. Don't ask for anything in return - they are already providing you with food and shelter, and probably a lot of other things (you're on here, I'm betting you have pretty much free access to internet, for instance). If one of them is in the middle of doing something that takes some effort, make sure you go and offer your assistance, either in terms of direct help or indirectly through support (like getting drinks, fetching tools, etc). Every once in a while, ask them if there's anything they need done.

After a while, you'll discover that they'll start making offers to help you, too. They'll offer to adjust their schedules to make sure you get a driving lesson in. And they'll actually fulfil their promises in that regard.

3. Start taking more interest in your mother's and stepfather's lives. You complained about not knowing that they were selling the car until they'd already sold it - if you'd taken an interest, you'd probably have learned about the decision around the same time that they offered to sell it to you - heck, they may have even asked if you had any ideas for alternative solutions to the money situation that resulted in them selling the car.

4. Quite simply, "man up". Stop blaming other things for the situation you find yourself in. Neither your mother nor your stepfather have the time to take you for a driving lesson? Well, how much does a professional driving lesson cost in your area? Can you get a part-time job and earn the money necessary to pay for an hour of it every couple of weeks, perhaps?

Being a man has nothing to do with getting physically violent and beating up other people. It has to do with taking responsibility for your own situation, and being respectful and helpful to others (especially family). Being a woman, by the way, is about exactly the same thing. Turning to violence is adolescent and childish - and the fact that you walked away first doesn't diminish that.

Violence is never the answer. Regardless of who is in fault. Violence can lead a person into dark paths. I recommend you seek professional to sort out the issue. It is better to face the problem head on then to run away from it. Perhaps a family counselor?