On 2006-03-01 12:15:00, Aunt Shelly wrote:
Also, he may be grateful for all the wonderful help you have given him, but he may also not appreciate his life story being on the internet for all to see.
Trust me on this one, I've been there and you haven't. Ever heard the phrase "we shrink their world"? They do. It's as real as it gets. When every face you see, every word you hear, every hug (oh yeah, hugs are verboten) every gesture you are allowed to see and hear comes from that tiny little world on the compound, that becomes your whole world.
You don't understand this. I know you don't or you wouldn't be so fucking glib about it. Right now, Alex is in a place where the whole world consists of the WWASPbots and the other allegedly fucked up kids interred in that compound. They're everything, except for the scripted, monitored phone calls and letters he's allowed w/ program approved family.
WWASP requires that he divulge intimate details of his drug, family and sexual history and even thoughts and fantasies, before the whole of this bizarre tiny little world. And then those other fucked up kids, suffering the same torment for months or years on end, and those staffers who never left the Program because they were so broken after graduation that they couldn't get by flipping burgers on the outside, those profoundly fucked up people get to (have to, really) comment, criticize and judge his intimate, private, thoughts and deeds.
Not only are they Unqualified to provide responsible, helpful counsel, they're about the most fucked up people you could find to help this nephew who you say you love. And he can't walk away. Fuck! He can't even pick up the phone and call a sane and understanding friend when he needs to. He's isolated with these self righteous, sanctimonious lunatics.
THAT is what you're defending as "help". If he uses those "tools" he's getting" I'd move and lose contact if I were you, auntie. The last thing you want is for this kid to come back home and work that black magic on you and yours. I get the impression from his real friends that he would never do that. You're lucky, in that respect. Far more lucky than
Timothy Nixon's motherQuit while you're not too far behind, auntie. Cut your losses. Quit defending what you don't understand.
Creationists make it sound like a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.
--Isaac Asimov, Russian-born American author