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Mission Mountain School / Where would you be without MMS?
« on: May 05, 2005, 11:56:00 AM »
ginger -
i respect the fact that you have your own opinion, but it is really inappropriate to be analyzing other people's lives like this. hannah is one of the strongest women i know, and she also has had one of the most tragic stories that i have known. so for you to be discrediting her life by telling her that her feelings before mms were "normal," is just down right mean. i'm not here to speak hannah's story, but i cannot sit here and read someone completely discounting an amazing woman's story of recovery by telling her that she is more screwed up now than she might have been had she not gone to mms. ginger - perhaps your experience before mms was "normal," and i understand why someone with a normal adolescent rebellion is resentful towards mms. its definitely not for people who are just "going through a phase." and yes - there are a lot of people out there who can go through tough spots in their adolescence and come out stronger. but there are a lot of young kids out there who can't. i wasn't going anywhere positive - i had lost fourty five pounds in five months, and i had absolutely no intention on stopping. is this just a "normal" phase? the fact that i stopped going to school alltogether so i could throw up seven times a day.... was that normal too? is that what teenagers just do? the fact that i punched the shit out of my mother and threw chairs at her because she wanted me to eat. is this normal? yes - i was self absorbed and wreckless - but here's the difference between my situation and "normal" teenagers. i was willing to die over it. before i left for montana, i would sit at home every day, having pretended to go to school. i would sit in my living room with the shades drawn and the phone unplugged. and i would eat and eat and eat. and i would cry. i would crawl to the bathroom because i couldn't walk, and would throw up until there was only blood. i would wait an hour, and then repeat the process. normal? i guess that's up to you to decide.
The point, ginger, is that we all have our own definitions of what is normal. its fine to be against mms, but it is really harmful to people when you brush off their life experiences as nothing at all. i am glad that you can see your teenage experience as normal - hell, i wish i could do the same sometimes! but i can't. and i really don't think anyone has the right to do it for me. hannah has come through so much in her lifetime. i talk to her on the phone when i am having a hard time because i admire how far she has come since we met. she's doing what she needs to do to take care of herself. if you don't know her story, don't tell her everything was fine. please, be angry but compassionate to people's sensitive pasts.
i respect the fact that you have your own opinion, but it is really inappropriate to be analyzing other people's lives like this. hannah is one of the strongest women i know, and she also has had one of the most tragic stories that i have known. so for you to be discrediting her life by telling her that her feelings before mms were "normal," is just down right mean. i'm not here to speak hannah's story, but i cannot sit here and read someone completely discounting an amazing woman's story of recovery by telling her that she is more screwed up now than she might have been had she not gone to mms. ginger - perhaps your experience before mms was "normal," and i understand why someone with a normal adolescent rebellion is resentful towards mms. its definitely not for people who are just "going through a phase." and yes - there are a lot of people out there who can go through tough spots in their adolescence and come out stronger. but there are a lot of young kids out there who can't. i wasn't going anywhere positive - i had lost fourty five pounds in five months, and i had absolutely no intention on stopping. is this just a "normal" phase? the fact that i stopped going to school alltogether so i could throw up seven times a day.... was that normal too? is that what teenagers just do? the fact that i punched the shit out of my mother and threw chairs at her because she wanted me to eat. is this normal? yes - i was self absorbed and wreckless - but here's the difference between my situation and "normal" teenagers. i was willing to die over it. before i left for montana, i would sit at home every day, having pretended to go to school. i would sit in my living room with the shades drawn and the phone unplugged. and i would eat and eat and eat. and i would cry. i would crawl to the bathroom because i couldn't walk, and would throw up until there was only blood. i would wait an hour, and then repeat the process. normal? i guess that's up to you to decide.
The point, ginger, is that we all have our own definitions of what is normal. its fine to be against mms, but it is really harmful to people when you brush off their life experiences as nothing at all. i am glad that you can see your teenage experience as normal - hell, i wish i could do the same sometimes! but i can't. and i really don't think anyone has the right to do it for me. hannah has come through so much in her lifetime. i talk to her on the phone when i am having a hard time because i admire how far she has come since we met. she's doing what she needs to do to take care of herself. if you don't know her story, don't tell her everything was fine. please, be angry but compassionate to people's sensitive pasts.