Maybe it's too simple to say, "the Seed destroyed my family" as I did in an earlier post. My family had TONS of problems, and the drinking my parents did was to cover up their own frustration and unhappiness (and for my mother, manic deptression I believe). My brother, sister and I were very close as is the case in a lot of dysfuntional families. When my brother left for the Seed, he came back and I thought by joining the Seed, not only would I be happy but I would save my family too. And it probably was a good thing to give me a 'time out' from my family situation, but 6 months down the road I wish I was given tools to work with my family. Instead, I was told, 'your parents are crazy, maybe you should have as little to do with them as possible' and I bought it. My parents WERE crazy. And as for my sister, I still feel so guilty about shunning her during her really difficult years, from 17 to 24 or so, I had NOTHING to do with her outside of the one conversation where I told her if she didn't 'get straight' I'd have nothing to do with her. She was a first-year college student! Just a kid. I wish I could have a 'do-over' for that one.
Out of the Seed staff I knew, none of them had a good relationship with their parents or siblings: Lybbi, Cookie, Bob W., Ginger, Kenny, Evy, Laura, Cliff - I don't remember any of them saying anything but the minimal about family (unless they had a sibling in the Seed), except to dismiss them. The phrase usually went something like:
"Well, may parents are crazy. But in the other hand, they did the best they could - I was certainly no treat for them. But they do their thing and I do mine - the best thing I can do for them is be straight. And as for my brother and sister, I wish they would get straight too, but at least I'm being a good example. For me, I really choose not to see them too much - they're my 'biological family,' the Seed is my 'Family of Choice.' This is where I belong."
Art never talked about his family either, except to say his mom had raised him and they were poor. That's it. So it was a culture of people who, for the most part, had rejected thier families.
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Wally Gator[ This Message was edited by: cleveland on 2005-01-10 10:52 ]