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Very funny Bolshevik! Maybe they should send that water off to the lab for testing…oh here it is – we’ve got the results back: *** TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION*** we regret to inform you that the sample you sent in has a high concentration of rancid Kool-Aid, sewer waste, 95 feces of cult-leader's theses, Gnostic-waste, waste-of-time waste, ectoplasm, hookie-pookism juice, Liquid-Paper, Plagiarism Lubricant, 3-in-1 Oil, tinges of Drambuie and minute particles of Roofies *** *** TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION*** DO NOT INGEST IN ANY AMOUNT *** *** DO NOT SHARE WITH ANY OFFSHOOT MUNICIPALITY *** ***OFFICIALS FROM THE CDC ARE IN ROUTE EVEN AS YOU READ THIS TO ENSURE THIS SOURCE IS TERMINATED *** *** MAKE SURE TO TUNE IN FOR THE NEXT EXCITING EPISODE OF X-FILES WHERE THIS STORY WILL INVOLVE BIBLE MUTILATIONS AND WOW ABDUCTIONS ***

oh, if I were in sales I'd be pointing this out https://www.epa.gov/dwanalyticalmethods/analytical-methods-developed-epa-analysis-unregulated-contaminants

And don't get me started on flourine. (PFAS) Those things are tough. I'm looking at YOU, recycling hippie types.

Like reducing a good stock? mmmmm There's a bazillion links. I counted each of them. EXACTLY 1 bazillion. https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/lead-and-copper-rule https://ordspub.epa.gov/ords/sfdw/f?p=108%3A200%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A

Love Marcus Aurelius. Thanks for this. Role models are so important.

You recommend good books. This one has been added to my list.

I think you're correct about the OP. NYC area's drinking water is high in quality, primarily from its sources being upstate aquifers. (NYC is densely populated, NY State is not, much of the state's population and 80% of its total taxes come from NYC.) Some places need help to have potable drinking water from their taps, and that's true in the US and elsewhere. (I dare you to try to drink Pittsburgh's tap water sometime.) Some can be helped with filtration systems, some can't- if their water is beyond the help of water filters in the home. Cleaning 95% of pollutants in some places still leaves you with enough to poison someone with unfit water.

Along the lines of serving as a role model being a better way to look at parental authority, today's post from Daily Stoic is particularly salient. It also occurs to me that instructing (commanding/enabling) people who are not up to the charge to exercise authority over their children is, doctrinally speaking, a grave injustice to the children AND subtly evil and when one recognizes it, brazenly false doctrine. In that, as Marcus writes in Book 1 of Meditations, the gods gave him Antoninus as “a ruler and a father.” The ancient world was a brutal, violent place. The entire history of emperors and kings was basically an endless parade of heirs getting rid of other potential heirs. Despite this precedent, despite being given the unenviable job of preparing a boy to replace him, Antoninus broke the mold and facilitated one of the greatest mentor relationships in history. More than not assassinating his rival, Antoninus committed fully to shaping and guiding the young boy, Marcus Aurelius, towards a kind of greatness that stretches beyond the imagination. More than being a stepfather, he became the boy’s true father, loving and raising him like a son. What exactly did Antoninus teach Marcus? In Marcus’s own words in Meditations, he learned the importance of: Compassion Hard work Persistence Altruism Humility Self-reliance Cheerfulness Constancy to friends. Marcus said he also learned how to keep an open mind and listen to anyone who could contribute, how to take responsibility and blame, and how to put other people at ease. He learned how to yield the floor to experts and use their advice, how to respect tradition, how to keep a good schedule, and never get worked up. Antoninus taught Marcus how to be indifferent to superficial honors and to treat people as they deserved to be treated. It’s quite a list, isn’t it? Better still that the lessons were, as we recently talked about, embodied in Antoninus’s actions. There is no better way to learn than from a role model. There is nothing luckier than getting to be in constant company with someone we would most like to be one day. And as any parent knows, there is no better gift than the opportunity to be for our children what Antoninus was for Marcus.

Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD. In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma--but you can learn to move with it. ----- One reviewer wrote: In What My Bones Know, accomplished journalist Stephanie Foo writes about receiving a diagnosis of complex posttraumatic stress disorder and the steps she took to heal herself. One of the elements of this book I enjoyed right from the start includes how Foo writes about her trauma with such realness and vulnerability. The physical and emotional abuse her parents put her through felt painful to read though also cathartic as a fellow survivor of child abuse. In addition to destigmatizing child abuse and PTSD, Foo shed lights on her estrangement from her father that occurred later in her life. I imagine this book will feel comforting for folks who have also experienced difficult family dynamics, as Foo does not hold back about her pain even as she persists in her path forward to healing. ----- Obviously this brings up blatant parallels between the OP from TWI's website and perhaps from Bolshevik's life experience. It is clear to me now, more than 35 years after I left twi and having raised a child who thankfully is a well-functioning adult, that twi's DOCTRINE is f**ked up.

Goodreads dot com sends me an email every day with updates on what my friends are reading or have read. This morning, I first became aware of the difference between PTSD and Complex PTSD because one friend had read and rated (five stars) What My Bones Know: A Memoir. PTSD vs. Complex PTSD Both PTSD and C-PTSD result from the experience of something deeply traumatic and can cause flashbacks, nightmares, and insomnia. Both conditions can also make you feel intensely afraid and unsafe even though the danger has passed. However, despite these similarities, there are characteristics that differentiate C-PTSD from PTSD according to some experts. The main difference between the two disorders is the frequency of the trauma. While PTSD is caused by a single traumatic event, C-PTSD is caused by long-lasting trauma that continues or repeats for months, even years (commonly referred to as "complex trauma").1 Unlike PTSD, which can develop regardless of what age you are when the trauma occurred, C-PTSD is typically the result of childhood trauma. When it comes to Complex PTSD, the harmful effects of oppression and racism can add layers to complex trauma experienced by individuals. This is further compounded if the justice system is involved.2 The psychological and developmental impacts of complex trauma early in life are often more severe than a single traumatic experience—so different, in fact, that many experts believe that the PTSD diagnostic criteria don't adequately describe the wide-ranging, long-lasting consequences of C-PTSD.

George

Deanna Troi (Waygone calls her "Boobs", is the STNG character you are thinking about, SocketCreep. Kay - I felt like that when I was younger and I also remember when I first got in the Word, I had leadership tell me I had one of the biggest hearts they'd ever seen... but then they'd bawl me out for not dusting properly or some stupid nit-picky thing they needed done. I'd get "built-up" -- as in, told I'd done a good job, I was a great believer and how much God loved me, and then "torn down" on leadership's whim. I'd get screamed at for falling asleep at my desk at 3 AM because I'd been up since 5 AM the previous morning and was working on the Grapevine, or for not following dress code just so, or whatever they felt I'd done. I got to the point where I didn't believe people anymore when they said good things to me or about me, because I knew it was temporary. I knew I would be reminded about what a crummy son-of-God I was in just a little bit, so it didn't matter. It was unrealistic expectations placed on someone who was already driven to achieve success - OR ELSE. Failure was not and still is not option. Shortly after my baby was born, who was also 6-weeks early, I found I could not breastfeed. I tried everything, but it just wasn't possible. OH MY GAWD -- I HAD FAILED AT MOTHERHOOD AND THE KID WASN'T EVEN 6 WEEKS OLD! That's how I felt at the time and it took my a LONG time to realize that Kristopher was going to turn out just fine and I wasn't a bad mother. However, at the time this took place and keeping in mind the lovely time known as post-partum depression, I remember telling hubby how I'd failed and asking him if he felt he'd be able to raise our son on his own, because I was a bad parent. I truly beleived, at the time, that that baby deserved someone better than me. I had several doctors, lactation consultants, etc. tell me that Kristopher would be fine and that I did the right thing, but it wasn't until I saw the little guy was happy and thriving for myself that I was satisfied. Until then, I was emotional hamburger. Come to think of it, that's pretty much how most of the TWI2 leadership treated us emotionally -- grind-'em-up and spit-'em-out. Nothing was good enough. Nothing was satisfactory. Currently, there is another thread on the boards about how TWI tries to make the 'disciples' dependent solely on them. I think that applies to the emotional aspects of how they dictated we were to think, as well.

I was OFTEN being "corrected" in TWI for being too sensitive about things. In my opinion this was a way that they were trying to make me feel self conscious ABOUT having feelings. I did start to succumb to their mentality about emotions. I remember hearing about these horrible tragedies where several innocent people died (plane crashes and the like) - or some person murdered their own children, etc. - and I was completely numb to the news. I would chalk it up to the fact that these people were body-soul empties and this tragedy wouldn't have happened to them if they had been in fellowship with God (i.e. tithing and ABSing to TWI). In fact such occasions were an opportunity to further pat myself on the back about my "superior" spirituality - Certainly tragedy such as these would NEVER happen to me because I fellowshiped with TWI and as a result was in alignment and harmony with God..... At least I had this mentality until tragedy struck close to home for me and someone I loved dearly in TWI died suddenly and violently in a car wreck. I have grown so much since then. Emotions no longer frighten me - I no longer LUMP emotions into two categories as TWI tried to teach me. The two categories were : #1 BLESSED (or "positive" happy emotions) these were OK to have because they made the corporation of TWI look good. I mean how many products would you buy if they used advertisements that showed unhappy, dissatisfied customers rather than smiling - content customers? #2 NEGATIVE (sadness, grief, confusion, frustration, anger, COMPASSION) these emotions were NOT ok to have. Leaders often didn't know how to deal with people experiencing actual emotional NEEDS. They had to interupt their "busy" schedule to "help" you. However - not to blame TWI completly - our culture also tends to teach that there are NEGATIVE emotions that we should be afraid of - like anger or grief. Where grief is concerned it has been my experience that people often feel insecure about their ability to be supportive of the one in need. We search for "the right thing to say" as if there WAS a "right thing to say". Folks - when someone you care about is hurting because of the loss of a loved one - nothing you can say will take that pain away... but you certainly might make them feel better just knowing that YOU CARE. That is really all that you need to tell someone - you are there for them if they need you - you love them and you hurt because they hurt! When it comes to anger - we are often encouraged to hide it - to pretend that we are in "control" of our emotions.... "I don't get angry" we tell ourselves, when in fact we are in denial and we are FURIOUS. I no longer pretend I am not ticked about stuff - I tell you I am angry if I am angry. But I also usually realize that I am angry with a situation not really an individual. But then - since leaving TWI my personal philosophy is to view emotions as an integral part of who I am. If I have one... I try not to hide it from others or myself most especially. If I am in public and I need to cry - I cry without shame. I believe that the people that would be condescending because of my tears don't know me anyway and the people that do know me... will understand and love me. We fear what we don't understand - and sometimes we try and define/categorize the emotions we are experiencing. So when we can't label what is going on inside - we try and pretend that we aren't feeling ANYTHING. Anymore - I don't worry about not understanding what is going on - I just let it happen. Emotions are NECESSARY - they are not a "necessary evil" as we were essentially taught in TWI. TWI is just a black hole when it comes to emotions - except when they are "approved" by leadership. Like being "spiritually angry" or again, displaying how "blessed" you are that you were able to buy 6 pairs of shoes at a garage sale for 20 cents. Don't worry folks - it all comes out in the wash. People who are concerned that they don't feel - ARE feeling - they just don't know what to label it.... I know you Chas and I know you DO have emotions!! I have seen them... TWI is just the black hole of emotional death!! Waygone