Thank you, Zyph and Daryll, I'm glad you read the book. I also want to post a paragraph I wrote on one of the other forums. I realize this forum is in Canada, but probably most of you have heard of the frightful events in our capital in Washington, D.C., with the sniper. Now adventists are talking about the fact the youngest sniper went to a SDA school, and how that refects on us all. If I may, I would just like to paste my comment here, also, as I believe it's important: The devil is active indeed! I've always believed that one's past is not an excuse for misbehavior..maybe a reason, but not an excuse. But I will say this, from my own experience growing up and being moved from place to place, family to family. The newspapers are describing how Lee Malvo, the 17 year old sniper, seemed like such a nice young boy in the SDA school in Jamica. But it was just one of the many places he lived. When there, he was cared for by two women, not his mother. I respond to that, as I also lived in different homes after my mother was killed when I was one year old. I grew up as a bright, busy child in an SDA school, and pretended I didn't have a problem in the world! But I did have some odd ways, such as being the most boyish tomboy ever, and not wanting to be hugged or touched. Then I had severe problems later as an adult who couldn't feel. So, I want to say this, if it will help anyone starting a family. People have the mistaken assumption that all a baby needs is a bottle in his mouth and a clean diaper. They seem to forget the baby has feelings, young tho he be. A baby is bonded to his mother from birth, and no-one else will quite do. Babies a few months old are sent to daycare all day so mommy can go to work, and are expected to understand her need to do so. What about the baby's emotional need, which is different from an adult's? Separation doesn't make babies independent, it makes them too insecure to even try anything. Severe, repeated, separation anxiety has a devastating effect on babies. It usually results in a shut down of capacity to feel. The "bright and loving" child is just a front for the coldness beneath. I know this from having to go thru a lot of therapy. I'm not excusing Malvo in any way. Growing up SDA, always indoctrinated with moral principles, I kept my sense of responsibility tho I had deep problems. There is a choice in there somewhere. Malvo seemed to have lived in many different places, cared for by different people. But he should have worked on his resentments instead of let them twist his morality. And adults around him should have responded with more than platitudes. It gets me how so many SDA have the old scientoligist, Jehovah Witness attitue toward mental problems...just trust in the Lord, don't go to a doctor. Adventists, as a denomination, have combined faith with modern medical skill, as testified by their fine hospitals all over the world. But, sadly, they remain in the dark ages about mental health. That is a science too, without taking away the spiritual component. Most SDA don't know it, but adventists also have the finest psychiatric wards, too! In my opinion, lay adventists need to read more about mental illness and become more able to help someone with emerging disorders beyond the ordinary. I'm sure there were some who saw something beneath Malvo's exterior, but what could they do when so few care, and "just leave it to The Lord".

[ October 26, 2002, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: Restin ]