Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS)
Memories rushing back ... of Paradise Cove, Samoa.
trnsz:
--- Quote ---On 2005-11-28 18:23:00, Antigen wrote:
"
--- Quote ---
On 2005-11-28 17:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
Travis is doing great and looks back upon Samoa as an asset to his current life.
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Or at least that's what he tells you. So very often, the parents go on believing for years and decades after the kids get it all figured out.
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Well, I wish that he would contact me. The last thing I want to do is dredge up the past.
For the previous Anonymous poster - You may accuse me of not moving on with my life, but isn't that what the program was supposed to help many of us do?
The fact that people are here, "whining and bitching" as you may believe, is the best measure of the programs success. Hundreds of kids may have benefitted, but now at least several dozen are damaged, and they have to work through the additional harm the program caused them before they can go on with life.
When I was a kid, I did some stupid things, but I'd do them again, exactly the same, even knowing what I know now. It's who I am. Samoa was time lost from my life. My whole time there was like a long bad day that didn't end, and when I got home, I went back to my life as it was. I made it a point not to change myself because of the Samoa experience.
The only thing that changed when I got back was the lack of support from my family, and that I was older.
BUT - I'm happy with who I am today, and thats what matters. Even after the car accident and the current unfortunate financial situation. (I've been unable to work for months).
Anyway - I just want to thank Travis for being such a good friend to me. Travis was (and I'm sure still is) a great guy, and he deserves to hear it.
At least tell him for me, or give me a way to pass along contact information, e-mail, etc. I'm only (semi-)anonymous here because I don't want certain people in my own family contacting me.
trnsz:
--- Quote ---Word of unsolicited advice, though. If you can find it in your heart to build some sort of relationship w/ your family again, do it. I really don't regret the years of toughlove I missed from my mom. But if I had it to do over again, I would have sucked it up just a bit so that my kids could grow up knowing their cousins.
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It's too bad I really can not. I thought my family was really the problem before I went to the program, and now I'm sure of it!
I'm on very good terms with my mother. She's helping support me while I can't work. I'm grateful. She is also well aware of what a scam the program is.
My father left when I was very young, and was always uninvolved in my life. I feel that it was his uninvolvement that allowed the rest of my family to send me away. We do `talk`, but only a "hello" or a card once a year or so.
It's the rest of my family that is the problem, especially my grandparents, who put up the money and were adament about the program. It wasn't until later, when my mother was in a new relationship (the first in decades since my father left) that she saw their true colors, so to speak. Let's just say they are racists, bigots, and would die before they admit they were wrong about anything. They disowned their own daughter for dating somebody who wasn't white. I feel absolutely nothing for them.
It's sad, even my mother hasn't spoken to them (her parents) in nearly as long, and she's living happily in her new relationship. Grandparents are probably dead by now. The rest of the family was on their side through the whole thing, and I have no desire to have any contact with those racists.
Thanks for the advice, however.
Anyway, let's get things back on topic! Hopefully, somebody who knows the people I want to find can let me know how they are or put me in touch so I can pass on some thanks. I hope the good news about Travis is true.[ This Message was edited by: trnsz on 2005-11-28 19:27 ]
Antigen:
Aw hell, you got family then! A good mom and a decent step dad are worth a whole tree full of ppl you can't count on. Sorry for being boorish anyway.
Yeah, where are the peoples? You might ask Charlie King, too. He runs The Better Fight website at http://tbfight.com/
Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
--Isaac Asimov, Russian-born American author
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trnsz:
--- Quote ---Aw hell, you got family then! A good mom and a decent step dad are worth a whole tree full of ppl you can't count on. Sorry for being boorish anyway.
--- End quote ---
No problem! I'm so happy that I was able to get things on a better track with her (no thanks to the program) especially now, unable to work, I'm in a time of need, and nothing is better than family.
I'm also glad resources like this forum exist, because before yesterday I had no clue. Thanks for the other link too. Good to see people care enough to offer suggestions.
I'll confess after reading about suicides/murders, I initially had violent thoughts when returning and if it wasn't for having good friends waiting for me when I got back, I'm positive there would have been a massacre. I really needed nothing more than time to reflect and those feelings went away. I've never had violent thoughts before that, and never since.
What about kids that go in for years and come back to a "program family" and possibly even a new city and no friends? I can't imagine that. To the chagrin of my parents, and to my relief, I had the same friends when I got out, and went back to the same life as before. These guys are still my best friends as an adult today.
If it wasn't for all the friends that offered me their couches and floors and let me live the way I wanted to, and not go home until I was ready, I'm not sure what might have happened. If you come home, only to view the program as empty propaganda or stolen years, it can feel like the world is breaking down around you.
Sure, I've seen some kids go into programs and come out just fine. I'm sure nobody is lying when they say that many kids have been helped. But programs aren't for everyone, just like the Army isn't for everyone, or being a doctor or a lawyer some other profession isn't either. To change you have to want to change. I made it a point not to make any big changes in my life, since that would be letting program "manipulation" win. I'm fine today. It just took many many years for my mother to see that. The rest of the family still doesn't, and we don't communicate, simple as that.
Parents need to know there are other ways than these programs, and it isn't always be the parents job decide, as hard as it might be to accept. (IMHO) Sometimes personality conflicts are unavoidable. I don't like everyone in my family, and as sad as it might be, getting along with your parents might be impossible, depending on the personalities of those involved!
There also comes a point where parents sometimes need to let go and let kids grow up to be who they are destined to be, even if it isn't what they wanted for them. C'mon parents, you might even be able to learn to like them in later years. Worked for me(tm).
Anyway, a lot of the names being dropped here on the forums are famaliar, and my time did overlap with at least Murphey and Sutton, it seems. It's unfortunate that I only hear of the people I was there with who are dead or in jail. So sad!
I'd love nothing more than to be able to hear some good news from those who I was friends with in Samoa. I really don't care what they think of the program or WWASPS, I just want to know how they are doing and if they are OK.
Contact me if you can, guys.
Bola:
hey dude, when you did that trading of the disks thing with the run plans, first thing, they took away our computers. second, they came down and said "clean slate to anyone who wants to confess to any old things they havent gotten caught for. there will be no consequences for anyone who confesses." then, once they had a big list of offenses, they threw the book at everyone!!! i wound up getting a few cat threes and getting dropped to level 1 from 3. i doubt anyone is still mad from that. many years ago. anyway, you said you were on "telefaga"? did you mean maybe "fagatele"? i was on fagatele, when people got caught with run plans. i think i might know who you are. if you are who i think you are, you were good at chess, but i could be wrong. and yes, cocoa rice was really good when it was made with "kokosamoa", a thick, gritty locally produced cocoa. i agree it sucks the only people who we know about are the ones that make the paper, thats why i have no problem dropping my name out here. Ryan j, if u know me, feel free to write. rocbola@yahoo.com
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