Courage

[John Tilden]

> Thanks Matt, but i always respond when people say I had "courage"
> I didn't.
> I had two choices: Work real hard, and get back to a semblance of normal
> life, or stay in the hospital until I died. Anybody in this message group,
> could have, and probably would have done what i did. (Provided they didn't
> get wrapped up  in self-pity, and I don't think that would have happened)

Don't sell yourself short.  The longer I live as an "adult", the greater I
realize that I will accomplish more than most merely because I *try*.
Courage is not giving up when it would be easy to, regardless of the
situation.

>  I really don't know how unique thier situation is, (talking about the
> outcast at school now) it seems to me that many people in one form or
> another, have had bad consequences due to someone else's actions.I think
> being "treated like a potential criminal" rates real low on the traumatic
> event scale. Now, if they were being handcuffed and sent to jail (Being
> treated like actual criminals) then they would have a real beef.

The point that we're all moving towards is that teens today need just as
much guidance as they have always needed, and our society as a whole (and
the family unit in particular) is not providing the structure that a teen
needs because parents are not taking ultimate responsibility for their
children. (I am talking AS A WHOLE, here.)  It all boils down to that, time
and again.

I thought parts of my middle/high school experience were "Hell"--then.  It
was painful to live through those times, but I can see now that learning &
dealing with the experiences helped me become the person I am today; I sure
didn't think that fondly of it when I had just graduated.

I'm not down on the total public school experience.  I think there's things
to be fixed, but where I disagree with some of you is that I think microcosm
of High School is a pretty good preparation for the harsh realities of "Life
in Society as it really is and You Better Know how to Deal with It". Of
course, it's been awhile since I've been in a public school, and I went to a
pretty decent school, so it might be apples & oranges by now.

I'm not sure that I've added anything to this discussion, but it felt better
to vent somewhere.   <G> After reading some of the "student commentary" that
has been published here and in my local paper (excerpted from the Internet,
also) I just wanted to tell the parents of some of these kids to "get a
grip" on their child.

--JT