Speakout 12/11

Just a little comment on this. Charleston is not poor. Actually Charleston is rich to whatever they desire. They only say they are poor and it has been working. How can you call that town poor? Go to a meeting, go to the offices or go to court, or stand up and count the crop fields. Poor? No. Poor is the west side of Charleston. That's the way they are able to pave the rest of the town.

This is to all the mothers of teen-age daughters everywhere. Would you willingly let your 16-year-old daughter date a 24-year-old convicted criminal who just got out of the pen? Anyone with sense would see that that is just a mistake waiting to happen. I myself am 17 years old and if I had a daughter she would certainly not be dating a 24-year-old. Some parents don't see that as a problem. Are they out of there minds or does a 17-year-old just have more sense than them?

No matter who we are or what anybody thinks, if you are in control of what is in the best interest for someone you love, we must remember that tragedy and dying is reality. If you have been blessed with no such experience, you may not comprehend the dread, fear or agony you share when you lose anyone close to you, even living from hospitals or nursing homes or being a survivor of a car accident left with dependency on family. Their experience can change all this without any reason why. No one can understand unless they actually experience this themselves. So anyone who judges someone and makes a hasty decision, please wait and look and listen and try to feel as if you were in that person's situation.

Recommended counseling or grievance procedures? My friend told me she needed counseling because she was supposed to be in control of her feelings while watching someone terminal possibly dying in her presence and doesn't know how to deal with it; that she shouldn't break down and cry loudly or someone may think she is mentally ill. My friend is frightened and is in control of her feelings and realizes what tomorrow could bring. Counseling would have been wonderful, had it been offered or recommended before she had to cry loudly for help, hoping that in time someone would hear her. Guess what? My friend got a Christmas miracle. Someone listened. She got help and someone helped her. Thank you to all who helped her.

To those who are sitting in their warm, comfortable homes and know someone or have relatives or friends serving overseas and haven't sent a card, postcard, letter or anything to them while they are serving overseas, I hope you have a very merry Christmas. Better yet, maybe you should spend a day overseas in their place.