OK Dreaming, firstly my apologies for any insults - but you did have steam coming out of my ears for a bit.
Secondly, Who paid for your education? Who paid for the peace that you now enjoy? Who paid even for the streets you walk on? Answer: your country, which you now so readily reject.
And who on earth are you to make judgements about soldiers "going soft"? If you don't agree with the British Army being in Afghanistan then that of course is your choice. But before you criticise the blokes out there and elsewhere, get off your arse and try sharing the life that they put up with - they're not whingeing about owing no loyalty to country or anything else, they're doing what they have to do unselfishly, unselfishly, unselfishly (you really should try to learn that word).
Finally, I should make it clear that I'm only on this site to try to help where I possibly can. So, while you and I may have major differences of view, I think we should now restrict those differences to PMs.
Tony.
Last edited by Snow White. : 25-06-2010 at 12:01 PM.
OK Dreaming, firstly my apologies for any insults - but you did have steam coming out of my ears for a bit.
Secondly, Who paid for your education? Who paid for the peace that you now enjoy? Who paid even for the streets you walk on? Answer: your country, which you now so readily reject.
And who on earth are you to make judgements about soldiers "going soft"? If you don't agree with the British Army being in Afghanistan then that of course is your choice. But before you criticise the blokes out there and elsewhere, get off your arse and try sharing the life that they put up with - they're not whingeing about owing no loyalty to country or anything else, they're doing what they have to do unselfishly, unselfishly, unselfishly (you really should try to learn that word).
Finally, I should make it clear that I'm only on this site to try to help where I possibly can. So, while you and I may have major differences of view, I think we should now restrict those differences to PMs.
Tony.
Apologising for insults then carrying on with more insults regardless?
I think you should have kept this to a PM, I found a bit disconcerting seeing someone so *high up* within this website being so insensitive and unpleasant.
Last edited by Snow White. : 25-06-2010 at 12:06 PM.
Reason: edited quoted post.
Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?
Hobbit, do PM me if you'd like to - I won't post on this thread again. But I do have a fundamental difference with people who deny the debt that that they owe to the country that provides them with the sanctuary and security that they now enjoy (bought by an immense amount of blood in two cataclysmic World Wars) - and to which many of them have contributed nothing! Do tell me what entitles people to a free ride?
And, while the British Army is of course far from perfect, it is made up of ordinary blokes doing the best they can under difficult circumstances - as they always have done for hundreds of years. Do at least give them credit for what they are doing on your and my behalf - and then tell me just who owes who!
I wouldnt say I wasted my youth....(although Im still pretty young I think!) I used it to have fun/make friendships/find out who I was etc. The thing about children ruling empires etc was because there was some much disease etc around, people died younger,so they had to take on roles like that.I dont think it can be compared to really.
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
I spent my childhood battling the restraints of the situation into which i was born. In a way, tht seems 'wasted'. I did things i'm not proud of, didnt do things i now wish that i could have done. However, the mentality of a child/teen is quite different to the insight i have when i look through my more adult eyes.
I didnt have a huge amount of control of my own life and the 'mistakes' i did mae, the thigns i did or didnt do i do not regret because they made me who i am today - and despite many difficult thigns i have expereinced i'm pretty happy with who i am today.
Thats not to say i'm happy with my life in that everything is as i want it, because it isnt, but more that i am content at my current placment in life and the path i am now on.
Who knows who or where i'd be if i changed anything.
“Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.”
----
On the Army issue first; the reputation of the armed forces has been declining ever since we entered an illegal war for all the wrong reasons, our involvement with the abuse, murder and war profiteering, the continuing human, economic, political & moral costs that was vehemently opposed. Our voice was ignored, actions taken that has made us more vulnerable and less respected among the world's citizens.
Oh the real reason for going into Afghanistan was to find Osama Bin Laden, where exactly is he now? Is he alive, dead or just laughing?
But on the actual issue of wasting your youth. Youth has to be defined. Is it the stereotypical drinking excessively, fear & embarrassment over virginity, building and establishment of social identity, employment & evolving into part of the working nation? Then in parts, yes.
But if Youth simply means the time we spent until we became adults, then as a whole, no. I am who I am because of it, and without my MH issue I find I have more positive attributes than negative to express and use. Would I liked to have experimented with drugs and drink earlier than I did, probably - but at the same time I've never experienced the various addictions and complications from it either.
There is always an opposite from any situation during our youth and both builds experience and character for us to learn from.
whoooa! I come on here after seeing so may replies and got quite excited!
But it definitely swung off topic a bit!!
but thanks guys for the replies! It's all very useful!
xxx
As a little kid you believed in fairytales,
that fantasy of what your life would be: white dress; prince charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill.
You closed your eyes and had complete and utter faith.
Eventually you grow up. One day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears.
But the thing is, it's hard to let go of that fairytale entirely because almost everyone has that smallest bit of hope, of faith,
that one day they will open their eyes and it will come true.
i suppose i would say i wasted a lot of my youth worrying about things like how i looked, what people thought of me, what i was capable of and not really concentrating on my strengths and what i could do. my lack of self esteem and self confidence resulted in me doing pretty badly in school and not securing a career because i just didnt believe i had it in me to do anything of use or worth. i could not see a bright future for myself, and felt like i was destined to work for minimum wage for the rest of my days. i do feel some of that to a degree now, i dont know where i will go in my life and i honestly dont know if i will ever be financially comfortable.
i also had my daughter at 21, which i dont regret at all but obviously i have lost a lot of my freedom by doing that. my mother tells me that i have too much responsibility for a 23 year old. i dont know if i agree with her or not, but my life is definitely a far cry from a lot of the friends i grew up with as most of them dont have children and are living their lives pretty freely.
and all those years i spent worrying about my body and how i looked? well, i wish i could have that body back!!! now i really do have something to be paranoid about!
"When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you" - Dr Samuel Loomis
