Belle

So he we can add malevolent to a description of him.... That sounds like companies that have ridiculous standards that no one really attains but they only enforce the standard when they want to get rid of someone. e.g. A bank that has a $5 variance rule on the till for each teller. Most tellers are off more than $5 at least 5% of the time, but only those tellers whom management does not like get fired for being more than $5 off.

Thanks for taking the time to write about all this HCW. I know it's a lot of time and dredging up memories for you. I've never heard about this either and it's good for the truth to be known. Also, your writing is excellent! I feel like I'm right there with you while I'm reading (but I am glad for the separate posts as I'm in Camp ADD with the others. :)--> ) From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Thanks, JT! Now that song is stuck in my head... --> I'm going to have to go find the ma nam ah na thread again.... :D-->

Al, with all due respect, I was not wc, but I WAS like this at one time. It's terribly embarrassing to me and I have apologized to a few of the people I treated so bad. Others are still in and won't speak with me. And yet others were never in TWI and probably still laugh about that nut in the office spreading her weird doctrines. I don't know if I would call it hypocrisy though. I like to think of it as "coming to my senses", "waking up", "learning that I know what's best for me instead of some numbskulls hell bent on abuse and manipulation". I don't know you, but if I did, I would apologize for the way I mis-treated you and I'm sure many others on here feel the same way.

It IS fun! It's also a good way to remember someone's birthday who is very special to me. :)--> I feel sorry that the northern folk are going to have to keep shoveling that snow though.

OMG, this is awesome! Y'all have to be the coolest greasespots I know. Okay, it IS Dirty Water. I may not know the title but I can belt it out pretty well in the car if the CD is up so loud you can't hear me. :D--> MStar1, they have the greatest blues festivals in Mississippi. I used to go to it every year and was usually a major minority but always had a great time and great smokes. ;)--> My little brother used to frequent some lesser known holes in the wall and one of them was a favorite of BB King. He met him on quite a few occasions jamming there. Love the pic, Socks! Thanks for sharing it. You do look like quite the pool shark there.

So, should I order pizza to get a date? That's definitely a "truth is stranger than fiction" story, Shellon! See, dmiller, I WAS NOT wrong in my concern about ordering the right food! ;)-->

Used to justify why the corpse should go to full time status. Again, taken completely out of context and taught absolutely wrong. I guess that doesn't fit with the question, though, does it? Sorry, Abi!

Reporting back - completely abused and taken out of the proper context of the scriptures.

A suggestion from leadership is tantamount to a command. I don't know off hand the doctrine that backed that up, but they had it and used it all the time.

SIT can refresh and revive you just as well as getting a good night's sleep.

Owe no man anything. Debt is sin.

Stayed Too Long, I think that's one of the hardest ways to leave. My ex would probably go through the same things if he was M&A. He's so in denial about the corruption and lies that he will read stuff on here and it doesn't affect him at all. He's almost like a wife who refuses to admit her husband is cheating on her despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It's so hard to face that we were lied to and believed the lies. It's even harder to face it when we've given up good jobs, family, friends and so much more for something we find out to be based on deception.

Y'all are wonderful! Thank you so much!!! I've been doing the online dating thing and have had quite a few dates, but I never seem to get past the 3rd date. Sometimes, like you said Reikilady, it's that the chemistry just isn't there. Sometimes I have found the guy to be totally different in person than he was online. Other times they don't call me back and, for the life of me, I can't figure out why? :)--> I do like it when a guy doesn't play that waiting game before he calls to tell you he had a good time and ask you out again. How did I know Oak is a true gentleman who doesn't play games? He's a gem and I'm so happy for y'all! Cindy!, I dip my hamburgers in ketchup because you can't get enough on the burger. :D--> I sorta save that revelation for some time after the first date though. I've learned from TWI that it can drive me crazy (literally) trying to be what someone else wants me to be, so I'm really monitor myself to make sure I'm not compromising who I am. Someone is going to have to love me warts and all, afterall, my best friends do, surely there's a guy out there who will too. Goey, thank you! I have had oysters and beer on a first date, and it didn't turn out bad. We're actually good friends now. I am pretty laid back, but I thought that might be a bit too casual. I guess not. Maybe next time I should make them smoked....maybe it'll turn out like you and Cowgirl. Zshot, I NEVER order a salad on a first date. Like Vickles said, sometimes the lettuce is too big and I know guys think that's a prissy thing to order. It reeks of "high maintenance" in that if she's going to order a salad, she's going to constantly ask if her butt looks big in her size 4 jeans. Abigail, so the garlic crusted curry salmon would be a bad idea? :)--> Steve! I'm all too aware of how dangerous it is to make the people handling your food mad. I've also been victim to a friend sending her steak back 3 times because it wasn't burnt enough for her. --> Radar, sometimes I've met the guy through friends, other times it's someone from online who I haven't met yet. I just found out my boss meets them for appetizers and drinks after work or a lunch date for the first time (3 of us in my office are using match.com). I see your point and there are lots of places around here to do the patio/coffee meeting. Hadn't thought about that. Paw, that's a genius idea! If he's watching where he's going then he can't see me with mustard all over my face. :D--> I like the way you think! dmiller, it was sort of just an advice question. I'm pretty paranoid about spilling food, getting it on my face, or looking like a dork trying to eat gracefullyl on the first date. I'm a big believer in first impressions and, while I like to be myself, I'm trying to figure out what's not going to stress me out food-wise so I can concentrate more on my date than on my food. Suz, it's been so long I had to look it up and do some research on "date" before I remembered what it was. dabobbada, There's something wimmen like about a pick-up man. The huntin' buckle jes might be a bit more dressy though. And the #3 Dale cap? fer me??? I'd be awfully impressed if a guy chose that one over the Budweiser cap.

'Tis very interesting, skyrider. :)--> I hadn't noticed that. I'm sure the TWIts are watching the thread very closely. I wonder how many ideas they've gotten from it.

Well, in the mental realm anyway, it's in writing. It's in the syllabus, on that website, some allusion to it on their website and I have STS tapes of craig and other leaders talking about it. *shrug* I'm not saying a lawsuit would fly, especially as taboo as the mental health field is for some people. It just seems that if it could be documented that someone suffered job loss or some other quantifiable harm because they should have sought professional mental help that they would have a good case. Medical too, but I was thinking specifically of mental health. Abi, so glad your friends didn't listen to TWIts about not having the surgery! Those are the kinds of things I wonder about. I'm sure more of those things happened than we're aware of.

The TWI Family Table website has a promo for the WAP class on it. In this advertisement they mention that you don't need expensive counselors or family counseling for your life, just this class. I posted this on the website thread, but I think it should have it's own thread so as to not derail that one any further. Abigail posted: I really think there could be grounds for lawsuits in this realm as well for people seriously affected by depression, ADD, learning disorders and other things TWI dismissed as not medical problems, but 'non renewed mind' problems. I just don't know how you would go about documenting the harm.

Krys, posted: I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Last week-end I spoke with a person who is still "in". We had been friends, but she "turned me in" a few times too many. I care about her, but I don't trust her. She has questions and she's been lurking here. She doesn't want to believe what she reads but the evidence is mounting and it's harder and harder for her to dismiss the stories and justify her own doubts. I think it's very scary for people like her and LLP because they always believed whatever they heard from TWI leadership and hq. The thought that TWI may actually lie and cover up horrendous actions just does not occur to them and it's something they really don't want to believe because it would mean they were taken advantage of. They also never experienced it first-hand or they dismissed it and just an isolated incident. Some just close their ears and eyes because it's easier to continue on status quo existing and believing what they're told to believe rather than face facts and have to deal with them. It's too painful to admit that something that you loved and trusted in wasn't what you thought it was at all. Others ask questions, but they only go to the same source of information that has been lying to them. I liken finding the flood of information found here on GSpot and answers to all those things that just didn't add up to suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The rug is pulled out from under your feet and you don't know what to believe. You WANT to believe the TWI sources that you've always believed and trusted, but deep down you KNOW their answers just don't add up. THEN you find out that all those horrible people who left are actually happier, more prosperous, less stressed and not the crazy lunatics you were told they were. It's hard to believe and really hard to trust those people, but eventually you start to remember what good friends they were and realize that those you "thought" were your friends in TWI were really only your friends conditionally. Those aren't real friends. Real friends are your friends no matter how many stupid mistakes you make. :)-->

Krys, I didn't think you were condemning anyone at all. I was just adding to your already very well stated comments. :)--> I'm sorry it came across wrong. In fact, I had been thinking about this for a while and may start another topic to not derail this one any further.

So TWI doesn't just try to re-write their own history, but they want to re-write whatever other parts of history they don't like. Another, "just ignore it and it will go away" tactic regarding the holocaust and their kids.

Eerily familiar, WW. These are some of my favorite quotes from that site (some names were adjusted ;)--> ):

Linda, that's a really neat story. Y'all look so serious in the picture. Thanks for sharing it with us. The more I learn about you the more I like you! I LOVE The Standells!! One of my all time favorite songs is "Muddy Water" by them. :D-->

Oh, I almost forgot. I was robbed at gunpoint when I worked at a convenience store while in college. I thought the guy was a regular playing a joke on me at first and that seemed to really p*ss him off. When I realized he was serious, I got nervous, but as he ran out of the store I got really mad and started chasing him! I don't know what I would have done if I had caught him, but I was on his tail for a good 3 miles before stopping to call th cops. They caught him because he dropped his coat while he was running from me. It had his ID and other information in it, so the cops called and told him to come get his coat at the station. He did. :D--> Funny thing is, he didn't match any of the information I gave them when filing the police report. Stress does amazing things to one's memory.

AMEN! The reality of the place and the atrocities will not be communicated, especially to younger generations, by wandering through a pretty garden.Children need to know what happened, what our forefathers fought for and all the life lessons that come with that knowledge.

ex70's, I'm so sorry to hear about your trucks and that it's not the first time has to be truly frustrating. Right after I moved here my car was stolen. I had been out partying with new friends the night before and when I went out to get in my car the next day I couldn't find it. I thought I must have had a lot more to drink the night before than I thought I did. :D--> But the more I looked, the more I knew I would not have parked my car so far away from the apartment. Being from a very small southern town, I did not have theft insurance on my car. It was never a problem or concern. They actually found my car, though, about a week later. It smelled so bad and the steering column was busted up. I felt violated and could not drive the car at all. My daddy sold the car for me and used that money to help finance a different used car. Other than some hard life lessons on getting screwed by friends, that's pretty much my only experience with crime.