non-gay members of this forum, have probably discovered some interesting behaviour here on this site.. me too.. with in the confines of specifics (if such a term even exists), how many folks here who are gay or identified in some way with that term, can say outright: "i am gay/homosexual" without guilt, embarrassment or shame, post-jw?.
i joined this site almost three years ago.
i do not post often, but i am still around from time to time.. gay people.
Hi Ray
With in the confines of specifics (if such a term even exists), how many folks here who are gay or identified in some way with that term, can say outright: ; "I am gay/homosexual" without guilt, embarrassment or shame, post-JW?
I can and do.
For those of you whom identify themselves as gay exJWs, do you perform your own mini-sheep/goat exclusion?I've got 4 friends that are gay ex-JWs and 2 that are still JW but I'm not sure what you mean by alliances.
after almost a year of living abroad, away from my parents and away from anything even remotely watchtower related, having allowed myself to not worry about these silly little things (yet convincing my parents that i was still going); now that i've been back for about 6 weeks, i feel that i have to put on a double effort to cover over things that i've said or done, and avoid using "suspect" words or phrases like "cheers" or "good luck".
its driving me crazy at the moment, and 10 times more than it was doing before i moved out.
today, i had a mini panic attack at having told a "worldly" friend of mine "good luck".
Dorayakii
I have too strong a relationship with my aunt and cousins to force them to have to make such a decision. I live for them... life without them wouldn't just be "lonely", it would be completely meaningess.
The decision is not forced by you, but by them. I thought life would be meaningless too, which is why I stayed long enough to be an MS, then Elder. You know it wont be, having had your year out and made friends and potentially a support system outside your family. Losing my family and circle of friends at 30 was tragic, and I still go through periods of grief, but my life remains rich. I wish I'd left at the age you are now rather than waste a decade of emotional investments that never paid off.
The departure is hard but the fear of it was harder. Stay and you'll face intermittent meltdowns that will be inexplicable to your family, and you'll end up leaving and being shunned at a later stage. You need to look after yourself, and you know you're worth it!
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what do you all think about national service?.
do you think they should bring it back?
I'd be happy to oblige after you've put on some lippy and plucked your eyebrows.
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what do you all think about national service?.
do you think they should bring it back?
Tez & KK
You both give examples of people who have turned their lives around from difficult circumstances, without national service. It offers no further guarantee that life's "takers" will turn in to "givers" (my god, is this turning into a gay thread?) nor will more funding. My arguement against national service is that it a treatment of symptoms rather than cause, and therefore a very short term form of solution.
Welcome to the human race.
KK, apart from a good thrashing, I don't know.
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what do you all think about national service?.
do you think they should bring it back?
Is there also to be a suspension of Human Rights between the ages of 16-18?
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what do you all think about national service?.
do you think they should bring it back?
KK
Nice idea. Hogwarts Borstal?
But if they refuse to do the press ups, what then?
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what do you all think about national service?.
do you think they should bring it back?
Ellie
If it doesn't make anything worse or better, is it worth it? surely that's the quartet playing as the ship goes down.
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what do you all think about national service?.
do you think they should bring it back?
KK
I appreciate what you are saying which is why smaller class sizes from year one would make a difference. One on one by the time a child is being excluded is more often than not too late.
Paul.
I don't believe that we can achieve a perfect, crime free society and I wouldn't want one. Is that a glass half empty or a move away from the Judeo/Christian/Enlightenment/new Labour belief that things can only get better?
Ellie
So national service comes with compulsory but temporary sterilisation? And if they refuse to behave, prison? More prison may provide more jobs I guess.
I don't think society is perfect, but I don't think punitive measures (which is what we are veering towards) is the appropriate solution. But we are free to disagree.
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what do you all think about national service?.
do you think they should bring it back?
Ellie
I don't think there's anything wrong with claiming child benefit, but nor am I judging others that claim other forms of social security benefit. No one is forcing you to take money from the state to support your children and I know of families that feel that if they don't need the child benefit they shouldn't draw it. It's their choice and I'm sure they wouldn't judge you for drawing it. I know some teenage mothers and am well aware of how the system can be worked but see a minority exploiting it (babies for council houses) but I also see what depressing conditions they live in and how stressed and unhappy they are. Maybe the council homes on offer in Wales are palatial, but here they are high rise or sink estates and not even a Burberry cap can compensate. Better education, not national service, would have made a big difference to them. Better funding of teachers like KK, smaller class sizes and better school buildings.
Paul
Yobs? Have you never seen squaddies out to play? The army is not renowned for it's fine manners and etiquette in the lower ranks, so would National Service produce these fine upstanding citizens that we are all fine examples of? Remind me of the unemployment rate? Is it a vast swathe of the population that we are supporting? Having this "privileged" class of lay abouts is indicative of how rich we are, just as the vast sums we splash out of football players is. We will continue to have a minority that exploits the tax paying population until such a time as our debt burden crashes on us all and we have to live hand-to-mouth as Derek describes.
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what do you all think about national service?.
do you think they should bring it back?
Not even child benefit? I doff my hat to you.
