On 2004-05-09 07:35:00, Anonymous wrote:
"you poor folks are clueless about kids on drugs.
No, actually as a group, we're unusually well familiar w/ the issues surrounding kids on drugs, rebellious kids and the various ways our society has gone about trying to deal w/ these issues.
Many of us
were in your step-son's shoes and most of us are now the grownups in the situation. I would recomend that you throw yourself into the issue of prisoner abuse. How fortunate for you that the media has decided to showcase this issue for you just at a time when you might be able to use it.
One fact that comes up over and over and over again whenever we talk about prisoner abuse for purposes of interrogation is that information derived through torture is notoriously unreliable.
Now, just for clarification, till you brought it up, I don't think I'd ever heard of TLC Bootcamp by name. So I don't know exactly what goes on there, but I assume it's very similar to other facilities usually described as specialty schools for troubled teens. Having been in a situation where the only way to make the torment stop was to go ahead and "admit" to whatever my jailers wanted me to say, I have less than zero confidence in anything these kids confess to while under duress.
Bottom line, if this kid who you say you love so much is telling you that this place is abusive, believe the kid. If it turns out he's lying, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it turns out he's telling you the truth and you ignore him, you may well wind up grieving the loss of a child or, as is more often the case, the kid just won't have much to do w/ you once he's able to put some distance between himself and you. That means you miss out on those casual visits, being a part of your grandkids' lives and all the rest.
More's the sorrown for the kid in that scenareo (again, I speak from experience) After all, you still have your TOUGHLOVE hategroup for support and consolation. The kid has to go it alone in the world. That sucks more than anything, believe me. Everybody has their downswings; times when things aren't going right and the whole world just seems hostile and judgment. It's times like these when normal people go home for a dose of that unconditional familial love that sustains us all. For those of us who's homes and families have been hijacked by the TOUGHLOVE hategroup, there is no such refuge.
I am sick unto death of obscure English towns that exist seemingly for the sole accommodation of these so-called limerick writers -- and even sicker of their residents, all of whom suffer from physical deformities and spend their time dismembering relatives at fancy dress balls.
--Editor of the Limerick Times
(Limerick, Ireland)
