Rambling-environment,parents,teachers,etc | ADHD Information

hey, can i get political here. i loooove to get political sometimes but get
this. i can't vouch for the sources so someone'll have to check it out
themselves if they want.

when Dubya came into power - your budget was in surplus. it is now in
debt to the trillions. and guess who has been buying up that debt? guess
who now owns a third of your debt and could, theoretically, bankrupt you
tomorrow if they decided to call it in (which they won't cos it's not in their
interests to do so --- but they could) ---- hmmm, have you guessed
who you have sold a third of your country to? China. ahahahahahahha
--- boy am i glad i am not an American.

and get this on top of that --- people have known for the last 20 years or
so that the US might not have enough oil to supply its own needs. so
they started looking into alternative solutions but when Dubya came in -
he stopped all that (being an oil family an all) and now you are extremely
reliant on another whole bunch of nations who aren't particularly friendly
to you either ....

so you been sold down the river economically to China and with your oil
vulnerability to the Middle East. hah! i mean talk about national security.
forget a few terrorists --- this is real national insecurity!!!!!!

you're in hock up to your eyeballs. you means of production are
dependant on the goodwill of a bunch of Middle Eastern states that are
daily growing less tolerant of your policies.

and all this so that apparently the wealthy can get wealthier ---
apparently because they then reinvest stimulating the economy from the
top down.   hahahahahha what idiot would invest in the American
economy when the returns are so much greater investing in China, India
and various Eastern European countries (although the risks are waaayyy
greater too, of course). hah! they are not re-investing here. not at all.

so you are being sucker-punched in all directions (just my point of view)
but it's ok. why not?

i find it funny that people like Dubya because of his family values. but
that is just the problem - he puts his family interests in front of the
interests for the nation as a whole. he would rather the rest of you and
your children and granchildren be paying off debt for generations so that
he and his friends can make a quick buck.

boy, that would infuriate me. a man, who when asked to go and defend
his country squirgeled out of it and stayed at home in the good ol' USofA.
not that i would ever have wanted Dubya as my foxhole buddy though!
more likely to shove you in front of a bullet coming for him than dive in
front of a bullet meant for you, i reckon....

still - i love political rants. in fact, i think Dubya comes across as quite a
nice guy but i can't reconcile that with the death row executions and the
policies that deliberately target the poor and disenfranchised.

i also heard that rather than tax the super-wealthy to help cover the costs
from Hurricane Katrina and all --- they instead are going to cut the
medicare budget and the budget for small farmers... what? why? that's
hurting the very people you are supposed to be helping - how crazy is
that?

anyway i don't care really, it's not my country and it's WAY worse in Britain
the level of cronyism and corruption in government is stratospheric over
there right now with Anthony Blair (the worst thing to happen to British
Government since the murder of Thomas More i reckon)...

still politics is fascinating - don't ya think?

i love it.

Since you started... family values my ass! I can't believe that he can stand there and moralize to everyone when he can't even raise his own kids to be upstanding citizens. When I look at what Kerry and his wife's kids (even if step-kids) during the campaigning and what they'd accomplished in life and what they'd done with themselves and then I look at the Bush children... how can he even stand there and say he's got it right?

And when is getting jerked off in the white house less moral than jerking off an entire nation? Greed, lies, deception and not giving one iota for the very impoverished people in our own country let alone the rest of the world. Just say the names Libby, Cheney, Rove, Frist... it's like a hit-list of the lowest of the low. I hate greed and self-righteousness and a me-me-me attitude. I'm from Kansas, and the most conservative county (of counties over 100,000) to boot and What's the Matter with Kansas (book reference) is what's the matter with everyone. Even the Republicans of the Nixon era were never this bad. I didn't think Clinton was any moral peach but at least he didn't try to say he was any better than anyone else. I think morality is about service and caring and self-sacrifice and looking for the greater-good. If anyone wants to do anything about abortion, they really ought to start taking care of people's basic needs and then see what happens. If we changed people's economic and educational needs, that would be half the battle in all sorts of areas. Instead, the powers-that-be attack from some esoteric direction that wouldn't accomplish their goals anyway. What's with this whole 'one-issue' thing? We need to start at the bottom with the basics and give everyone a very basic, human standard of living and education and respect. Education alone (not the 'no child left behind brand') could change a nation. Think about what we could have done with ADHD if someone had put us in an environment conducive to learning with a brain like ours? If I were rich, I'd send as many as I could to montessori school.

I'll shut up now.

man re-reading that it seems slightly bonkers.  never mind.

i am not totally convinced by the canary analogy ya know --- but there might be something in it.  but i guess we are a lot healthier than we have ever been physically and perhaps mentally too (who knows?).  still it makes for a 'great sounding' analogy..... very poetic???


 I get riled up about the masses a lot, because the masses don't really seem to care.

A lot of our society just likes to blame other people for their problems, and no one wants to take responsability for themselves.  Which just puts a negative light on those who deserve the help.

I think it's quite possible to do well finincially or be successful without stepping on other people, but it tends to be harder.  Being "nice" tends to make you get pushed back.  And it's obvious everywhere, even something as basic as a line or in traffic.

I'm not really liking my country much lately, which saddens me.  The religous/morality movement scares me, along with the healthcare, education, and employment issues-to name a few. 
 I think we need a lot more caring and morality in the country, but not the religious kind nor the kind where we enable system abusers.  (I can get REALLY riled up with religion and gov't talks, LoL).

Most people aren't going to take initiative.  They only read headlines, they don't ask "why?", they believe anything they hear, and they are happy in their current state....at least happy enough to stay in it.

[QUOTE=chicx0r] 
Most people aren't going to take initiative.  They only read headlines, they don't ask "why?", they believe anything they hear, and they are happy in their current state....at least happy enough to stay in it.

[/QUOTE]

Most people probably don't even read the headlines. It seems like most people in this country are more concerned with sports or celebrity gossip (kill me now) than they will ever be about the direction this country is taking. We have the foxes guarding the henhouse and most people couldn't be bothered to care about it until there's no more gas to get to the mall or the stadium on the weekends.

But it's a cycle, because I see her in myself a lot, and it's taken me a lot of work to break that cycle.


well done for breaking that cycle.  yes it is an unhealthy environment mentally for us i think.  at least for ADDers but perhaps for all --- we are away from the natural rythyms of the land from the peace and serenity a fall day can bring, from the interraction with animals that has been proved to be so beneficial to humans (they even have petting zoos now to make up for it).

a lot of people can't take the mental strain. 

i read somewhere an analogy that someone made re. ADD and all these childhood allergies and illnesses.

the writer compared our children to the canaries that coal miners used to take with them into the mines --- these little birds would die if there was something toxic around in the air as their systems were so much smaller but it would give the miners, humans with a larger frame and tolerance level, a chance to get out before they too became overwhelmed by the toxicity.

our children are becoming overwhelmed by the levels of toxicity and the unhealthy lifestyle (mentally) that is currently being pushed on people in the Western worlds and we keep on trying to export it.

don't you find it funny how every culture that had a definitely different, less heirarchical, more in tune with nature society was not 'conquered' but 'annihilated' (native Americans, Aboriginals) and those cultures that were more similar to the European model of hierarchical power structures (such as the Indian caste system, or the Imperial Royal Courts in the Far East) were allowed to flourish and it wasn't so much an annihilation as a trade issue.

i am a conspiracy theorist however!  i believe that there is a small determined origin of souls who from Egyptian times when they had their masses toiling away for the tiny 2% the upper caste, the pharoahs  --- have always wanted to reinforce that state of affairs where 98% are enslaved for the benefit of the 2%. 

but instead of fighting for freedom against this - as we should - we gladly accept it in the name of security, medicating ourselves to become slaves to enrich this tiny already super-wealthy elite.  we have been conned and anyone who thinks otherwise or who will not willing donate their hard labour to the cause of someone else profiting from it --- is a 'bad seed' someone who must be punished. 

but anyone who 'chooses security over freedom - deserves neither' as said Benjamin Franklin.

rather a short life but a free life - than a long life of servitude and servility.

i will not become a slave for the rich.  rather i would become a slave for the poor - to help them.  not these already wealthy mfers - who con you into being their slave in the guise of 'self-interest'.

no, they can poison our food, toxify our water, try everything they can to subdue us.  but no!  i won't do it.  i won't be subdued for them.

in the name of status!  of progress!  of not being a 'low-achieving loser'.  no, i won't fall for that bullsh*t.  they try to push it on us --- and push it on us.

what is you are supposed to want?  you want to earn money, you want to be a success by workign hard and stabbing others in the back so that in this competitive world YOU come out on top so you can look down on others - poor pathetics who couldn't make it.

no, i don't buy that.  that's fricked.  i won't buy into it - i reject it fully.

I got a bit off topic in a post under med's, so I thought I'd post here instead!  This is kind of a soap box, I guess, LoL, and long. 

My best friend is a teacher, and her mom is one of the most accredited teachers in her state as well.  And my opinions are even from when I was in school, not so long ago...and things are worse now.

It seems that there are so many more kids with mental health issues these days, whether it's ADHD, BP, etc.  And I have a hard time believing that environmental issues are having a huge impact on that.  As a culture, we are eating carb and sugar loaded foods, they are easier and cheaper than "good for you" foods.  We don't exercise much at all: we sit in front of a tv, drive everywhere, work too much, etc.  Many of us have jobs where we sit in front of a computer all day where we don't have much social interaction.  And as for kids, they are crammed into overcrowded classrooms, where they don't get individual attention...and most teachers are having to teach so the kids pass some standardized test, so the fun is taken out of learning.  Plus, a lot of children don't get the emotional and coping skills they should from home, whether it's because of more broken homes, parents having to work to get bills paid, etc.

(I know where I live, education budgets are cut non-stop.  Teachers aren't paid, they have no budget for their classroom, etc.  And my friend had a class of 40+ special needs kids....!!! One teacher for that many kids, who all needed individual attention.  And, I also know that many kids don't get the support and learning at home, either.)

So my point, is it any shock that we are seeing more issues?

I do think a big part with the kids is the lack of attention, intentional or not.  My friend has had kids in her class that were horrible and failing for other teachers, yet got A's in her class.  Why?  She made learning fun and put structure in her classroom.  She works for the district now, and she works with parents even more now.  They don't care about their kids or have the time, and they expect schools/teachers to do everything.

I came from a home where I didn't learn the emotional skills I needed, and I've had to learn them as an adult.  I had an alcoholic mom, and while she quit drinking when I was 7, she didn't know how to cope with herself...and it led to my abuse for a while.  (I remember as a kid, I just wanted to be loved and her attention.)  But it's a cycle, because I see her in myself a lot, and it's taken me a lot of work to break that cycle.  My quietness never made me a "bad" kid, but I was smart enough to get As without trying...but I slept and did my own thing through school.  I rarely had teachers that even tried to challenge me or hold my attention.

  But as kids, we learn from our family and those close to us, so what are we learning these days?  If we have parents who don't exhibit self-control, how do we learn it?  If we have teachers that are too loaded down to pay attention, too underpaid to put extra effort, what does that mean to students?  If the food we eat just gives us quick bursts of energy, how do we make it through the day when the energy runs out?  If we aren't exercising our bodies, what does that do to our physical and mental health?

 Hopefully for those of us with ADD, we can provide a good example for our kids.  Instead of showing them how to not deal with it, we can show them how to work with it. 

 My boyfriend (who has bipolar) has 2 kids, 1 of which is showing signs of being BP already.  She looks up to him a lot, and I keep hoping that he will come around more with his illness, so that she can see a good example in him.  Otherwise, she is only going to emulate his behavior... And even his behavior comes from his parents.  He has issues facing his BP because his dad thinks mental issues are bogus ("all in the mind") and a mom that goes with the flow and doesn't have much structure.  If he'd learned otherwise, he'd be a lot different.

OK, I'm just going off an all sorts of tangents, so if anyone actually read that...I'm impressed, LoL.  I think I had a few points in there...some where... LoL

 
-C