On 2004-10-29 04:51:00, Anonymous wrote:
Antigen, were you actually on the program? I was under the impression that you were not, from previous posts. I have heard opinions from you that are based on maybe a couple of months in time like some guy donating lunchoen meat. If I were you I think you should contact him. Find out from him, now that you are an adult & can comprehend things in an adult manner just how much food & for what length of time this donation took place. In my mind from my perspective your judgement is way off.
I was there at open meeting every week for years when Art would cry poor-mouth and pass the plate. I was there at home when my brothers each came home. I was there when my sister went in. I was there when she brought home newcomers. I was also there in the house the day my older brother came home from the Army and was given the ultimatum to either join his little brothers in The Seed or leave the family. I was there when one brother married a former staffer, Pam O., and when another married another Seedling.
Louie is an old family friend by way of my dad. I've known him as long as I can remember, before, during and after my brothers and sister's programs. I saw him last a couple of years ago before we moved out of state. He used to drop by every week or two to shoot the shit and deliver some surplus bread from the Itallian bakery where he still works. It was a good pretense for a visit and made for some great bread pudding. And I was there, at the Plantation Elementary School kitchen assembling all those sandwiches from Louie's cold cuts, week after week, every Sunday after church, as a 'volunteer'. (my mother volunteered, I was conscripted)
And I was there, sitting out in the parking lot w/ my dad through Open Meeting (remember the old abandoned orange grove outside of the SR84 building?) when he was not allowed inside because he didn't pass muster at his 'checkout' interview.
More to the point, The Seed was there as a major imposing presence in the landscape of my childhood from the time I was about 6 years old till I entered Straight, Inc. at age 15. Louie will tell you, if you ask him, about all the hundreds of pounds of cold cuts he sent down there to you. But Seedlings weren't the only people Lou had a soft spot for. He'd feed broke teenagers or just about anybody in need. He never complained, was glad to help. I've never burdoned him w/ the truth of the matter. He's just a sweet old man who always did what he could for just about anybody.
Antigen you baffle me & scare me a little too. I hope you can get over your shit as well. I feel bad for you but It seems to me you blame the wrong people for your misfortune. Forget about it please for your own sake. Just move on, look for the good in things. Sorry I had to say it post after post that you write I picture you in army fatigues with black boots ready for a fight.
LOL! Thanks for the feigned concern. Almost makes me nostalgic for that good old once over by Art at the door on Open Meeting night.
The Seed stole my family from me when I was a little kid. I don't want anyone else to fall for the same line of shit, and the fact is that Straight and the other follow-on programs are selling the same line of shit as you folks did. Straight was the same program run more successfully. I was there, both places, for years.
Fear not, this is what I really look like.
Maybe you're the one who's perceptions are distorted.
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
-- Ben Franklin At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
