From the front...



From the back...

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

She's can't see anything through that scope until she takes the lens cover off.

LOL

This has become a dividing issue here lately and I wanted to address some concerns...

First let me say this, as a survivor of long term repeated sexual abuse (it started so young I don't remember when it started and ended when I finally stood up to my abuser at around age 13) I share many of your concerns.

I buried the memories for years but I can tell you that the problems brought on by it caused me all sorts of difficulties as an adult.

One night while watching a movie with my wife and mother a scene came on that triggered those long buried memories. I got up and walked out of the room, stunned by what I was remembering.

My wife found me sitting outside, curled in a ball, and crying like a baby. I cried for a long time before I could even tell her what was wrong. I couldn't stop crying for a long time, hours I know, and even after that initial episode for weeks I would just start crying for no reason.

My wife finally convinced me to see a therapist and to this day I have to say the man saved my life and sanity. It took months of twice a week visits and some really deep soul searching before I was able to put the memories aside and realize that what happened to me was NOT my fault.

I stopped blaming myself and began to change the things about me I didn't like, things that had effected my relationships with other people and specifically with my wife.

When our son was born I felt pride in being a father but was scared shitless. I tried my best to not be left alone with my son because I'd heard the stats about how abuse victims often become abusers themselves. I would nearly panic at times and unknown to my wife, sought counseling again.

I didn't want her to know the fear I had as we'd actually discussed it prior to having a child I although she claimed she didn't worry about it, I could tell she did, or thought she did anyway.

I never touched my son in an inappropriate way, or even had a desire to do so. The very thought of doing that would make me sick to my stomach, yet I still worried it might happen.

Today, all that is behind me. I've come to terms with what happened to me and have even faced my abuser from six feet away and didn't feel the urge to kill him. I've learned a few things about him over the years and he was the victim of horrific abuse himself when he was young.

I told all that to say this, I UNDERSTAND many of your concerns.

However, the mocking, the blatant attacks in status are BULLSHIT!

If you are really concerned about this individual and about the effect she is having on others with her actions, PM her and talk to her about it.

Attacking her, ridiculing her, in status will not solve the issue. It makes you look petty and jealous.

That is my issue with how some of the members on here have been acting.

Nuff said.