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Let this be repeated every time it comes up. WordWolf: (I've heard him on tape, addressing the Way Corps privately, dismissing concerns that women were ALREADY raped hitchhiking to LEAD and that it could happen AGAIN. He said they could be raped anywhere anytime, so he refused to consider changing anything.)

Human it is!

Including financial. The thought crossed my mind that TWI should have paid for EVERYTHING: the tuition, meals, travel, rooms, clothing, etc. After all, they are making an investment for THEM-- THEIR continued benefit. Provided you fully understand you're a slave (doulos) to "The Ministry the Represents God" (LCM's words.) As a bonded slave. And so under that condition, you also must beg for sponsors? LOL. I can understand that for the college division but not the Corps. FUN TV FACT: Starfleet invested $122,200 for Mr. Spock's education. Today that's worth $1,186,900!

You or Human. Whoever goes first. George

Correct, of course. George

Who gets the round?

It may or may not be prudish... for adults.

Thanks for taking the time to offer this insight. I have been dealing with trauma one incident at a time for decades. Every time I think I have nothing left to think about... As far as TWI being nicer, I have heard this. My first thought is always the foundation upon which it is laid. The foolish man built his house upon the sand.

*slaps forehead* I just freaking saw this movie the other week. "HOME ALONE."

[I (WordWolf) am going to reply using my old style of boldface and brackets.] "In a different thread, I talked about a situation I had with a sub parent in Rome City. It reminded me of another sub parent story that really upset me and to this day I fail to see the logic that TWI used in this situation. My mother was from The Bronx. She had zero camping our “outdoor life” experience. She was also chubby and not in great shape." [twi's so-called 'leadership training program' was wildly deficient in actually teaching leadership or anything similar, especially since nobody in charge had any training whatsoever in that department. People trusted that they would know how if they offered to teach it. One of the many things they did wrong was to rely on free/cheap things to do, all so vpw/twi could pocket more money- even when the alternatives could mean injuries or people losing their lives. vpw saw everyone else as DISPOSABLE, and RESOURCES. He saw everyone in terms of what he could get from them. As a result, a number of MANDATORY things they did were all physical education, since they could do some of that 'on the cheap.' What did it have to do with leadership training? Well, skipping the b.s. excuses, it had NOTHING to do with it. Oh, the excuses were 'to get them to do things' and 'to get them to trust God', and things along those lines. Here's a concept I first heard of on the GSC. It's called "FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY." Go look it up, it's important. Twi was, is, and always will be, a group that wants all the BENEFITS while refusing the RESPONSIBILITIES. You want people to put their lives in your hands? Then you're responsible for those lives while the are- and there's no "Well, you'll have to trust God to provide on that, we won't help you directly." That's not how it works among the heathens and the publicans. To do so among 'the household' is a disgrace. Treating people WORSE than the 'rank unbelievers' is a disgrace. Treating people better only because the law and lawyers forced you to is a disgrace. There's plenty of things they could have done rather than risk people's lives to teach them to plan, to act, to trust God. They had a FIDUCIUARY RESPONSIBILITY to remove and reduce all risks to their participants. They never did- and vpw insisted that they not. (I've heard him on tape, addressing the Way Corps privately, dismissing concerns that women were ALREADY raped hitchhiking to LEAD and that it could happen AGAIN. He said they could be raped anywhere anytime, so he refused to consider changing anything.) I'm not going to sit here and redesign their programs for them- we know they still read these messages. But anyone who cared would have designed different activities- ones that might even have had some cash layout like buying an old school bus or something. Did they say "Anyone who considers going into the Corps should be in excellent physical condition because there will be many athletic challenges, and it will be an athletic program as much as a study program?" They never said it, but it would have been responsible to say if they were going to make it an athletic program- which it was. It was falsely advertised and intentionally mislabeled. They sprung the athletic stuff on people, and kept the standards for entering low to accept the tuition of everyone willing to enter. Activities that should never have been assigned were given to people who never should have been allowed in, and made mandatory. This current story is only one of many of people who never should have been put in these positions.] "While she was on LEAD, someone told her to go back to base camp to retrieve something. She told the LEAD coordinator that she didn’t know how to get back to base camp." [This is ridiculous. They shouldn't have even been on a MANDATORY camping trip, let alone wandering alone around dangerous areas unescorted. The people running things should not have been understaffed and rushed enough to have nobody to spare to make sure they had everything, and nobody to spare to go to base camp to retrieve something. In 20/20 hindsight and the cold light of day, this is ridiculously IRRESPONSIBLE of twi and, frankly, a little crazy.] "She was told to take a left at the Gambel Oak. She had no idea what that meant and was yelled at when she said so. Someone told her to “Ask God”. She was afraid to reply so she went on her way and proceeded to walk off the side of a mountain and she broke her back." [Being from the Bronx, it's quite likely that- having been given an insane instruction at any normal location, she would have told the supposed 'leader' who couldn't lead traffic where he could go or what he could kiss, and go off on her own. twi's notorious for isolating people, and THEN lowering the boom and giving them insane instructions when they have no sensible recourse. The 'instructions' were grossly insufficient and twi failed in its fiduciary responsibilities. She paid the price for their carelessness- and their apathy.] " To this day she has trouble walking. This should have been a lawsuit as her life was never the same after this. She limps and has a lot of pain and was not allowed to see a doctor. As a result, her spine healed incorrectly and vertebrae are permanently fused together." [ YES this should have been a lawsuit. They put her in a dangerous situation and forced her to do potentially dangerous acts, and when consequences came, twi should have been sued a lot because they didn't pay for even a REASONABLE amount of care (which would have been a lot of care, considering how much of this was their fault to begin with.) Had they not insisted on a series of unsafe instructions, she would have been in the city, in a familiar environment designed not to risk killing you if you make a wrong turn.] "That’s bad enough but it gets worse. She was driven back to Rome City and was “reproved” for failing LEAD and was told she might not graduate. When she got back to Rome City, she was bed bound but was placed in a remote room far away from her actual bed. They basically stashed her in an attic." [Typical of twi, but more insanity. It was ENTIRELY their fault, and they blamed her for it. (Job was not the only one with 'miserable comforters.') Instead of getting her directly to a hospital, they all but propped her up in a closet. Even a BAD hospital would have been better care than that. (And in this sort of injury, I speak from experience.) twi should have been sued- a lot.] "I had no idea that she had fallen, no clue that she had hurt herself and no one told me she was back. I was living life thinking she was in Colorado on LEAD and my sub parent was in on the charade. She was home for a week before someone let it slip that she was home. I still have no idea why someone thought it would be a good idea to literally hide my mother from me. When I asked leadership about it, I was told that she had a failure in her believing that opened her up to the adversary and that he caused her to fall. They said they didn't want her to see me until she was "ready". It turned out she had been asking for me the whole time. I cannot believe I stayed after this, but I was a child and so I did." [This was an insane situation- and not atypical of twi. No child should be in such a situation. The allegedly "responsible" adults should have acted in a RESPONSIBLE manner, and then a small child wouldn't have to make sense out of insane orders from people who supposedly served God. (Under circumstances such as these, it's not difficult to see 'which god' got served that day.) twi is allegedly a lot nicer nowadays, now that the lawyers have forced a few cosmetic changes on the group. Anyone who falls into their clutches now can just as easily end up in a situation like this one. The specifics may vary, but twi cares about people AS RESOURCES no matter their rhetoric.]

IMHO, it's a lot healthier that you got this out of your system. You had to bury those feelings and not deal with them. Catching up can be uncomfortable, messy, and loud, but it's part of the road to the real you 24/7, so IMHO, it's necessary.

I didn't like it. I picked the most obscure times I could to shower. Then again, when it came to the 89 ROA, with 4 out of 5 people having gotten up and left twi all in one year, it was a lot easier to find those times. In fact, since it was at 20% occupancy all ROA, that was my first indicator that twi was now 20% what it was the previous year (although even they made the same comment, behind closed doors.) How much work would it have taken to put up STALLS? I know there's places where some people think guys are generally comfortable going naked around other guys in the shower or whatever, but that's never been something I was comfortable with, and it never will be. Go ahead, call me "prudish."

"Are you here all by yourself?" "Ma'am, I'm eight years old. You think I would be here alone? I don't think so." "Where's your mom?" "My mom's in the car." "Where's your father?" "He's at work." "What about your brothers and your sisters?" "I'm an only child." "Where do you live?" "Uh, I can't tell you that." "Why not?" "Because you're a stranger." "Why the hell did you take your shoes off?" "Why the hell are you dressed like a chicken?" "Did I turn off the coffee?" "No... I did." "Did you lock up?" "Yeah." "Did we set the timers on the lights?" "Yeah." "Did you close the garage?" "That's it. I forgot to close the garage, that's it." "No, that's not it." "Well, what else could we be forgetting?" George

"As the snow flies -- on a cold and gray Chicago morn A poor little baby child is born..." George

Yes, it is OH OH The "Israelites".

There is something there. I'm giving it away.

I have no doubt this is a deeply traumatic event in your life. Suppression is a natural response to trauma. Telling the story can be liberating and healing, for you and the reader. Let it out. Your anger is justified. Be angry, but if you won’t, I’ll be angry for the both of us. F**k these people and the charlatan they fellate.

Yep. First blame the individual for not believing enough, then blame the adversary, who likely had a whole lot of other more important things to do. LOL

Was the movie "Rocketman"? George

You know, it might not seem like abuse. But being forced to shower with grown men at The Rock is f'ing crazy. I was a little boy. WTF

I've been thinking about this post since I made it. I kind of put this experience away when it happened. That's gotta be some sort of trauma response because there was nothing I could do and none of the adults on cam[us said anything about it. The only thing I heard was "Poor her. Her believing wasn't there". So instead of being mad, we were embarrassed. I can tell you, if that happened to my wife or children today, I wouldn't brush it off. Sometimes sharing a story is liberating. In this case it gave me the anger I should have had in the first place. I spent all weekend ....ed off. 30 plus years later.

I remember reading an editorial cartoon once. A reporter was interviewing some football players at a stadium. "Which would you rather play on- grass or Astroturf?" "I don't know. I ain't never smoked no Astroturf."

"Tony Danza." It's that Elton John song. "Hold me closer, Tony Danza!"

"Israelites"? George