Wow...I knew this song when I was a kid and I totally forgot about it. Completely different perspective on it now, lol.

Don't know much about how the education system or the drive to excel in other countries works because, lol, they didn't teach me that in school.
What I was taught was just the bare minimum required for me to pass to the next grade or year, and/or for the teachers to get a paycheck.
I'm not knocking teachers...there are some amazing ones out there.
My experience with the American education system is this: You don't have to learn unless you want to learn. You don't have to be considerably bright to pass a class.
If you want to continue your academics after high school, you have a choice. You can go to college to study one field pertaining to a singular area of interest...the idea being to get a well paying job...or you can just go there to learn, but who's gonna hang in there longer than they need to when money's on the line?
There was once a Greek city-state where it was a blessing to expand ones mind. Here and now, learning has become means to an end rather than an adventure in itself. There are people out there who want to learn for the sake of knowledge...but most, from what I can see, are either retired and no longer worried about bills, or world travelers who must leave America to find the wisdom they seek.
Anyway, just some thoughts.

Hey...I resent that. And don't piss me off

Spanish class. I learned far more from working in restaurants and doing manual labor.

Wow.
Wow.
I am humbled by your talent.

Awesome. And I can totally relate to this poem. I think you hit a solid chord of human experience with this. Though it's not something anyone wants to go through, it's something that many, many people have felt.
Great write.

What is honest about a chemically impaired state of mind?
YES, I think people should be held accountable for what they say and do if they've chosen to drug themselves into a stupor...
But drugs and alcohol make people disassociate because the receptors in their poisoned brain are rampantly misfiring. What they may be saying about you is just as easily what they are reflecting of themselves, a past relationship, or a fantasy situation.

Example. A man proposed to me when he was drunk. The next morning he woke up flipping out because, though it seemed like a good idea when he was messed up, a happy romantic notion, he realized that in reality he was not prepared to get married financially, mentally, emotionally etc...

Don't take an intoxicated person's word to heart. If in doubt, ask them again when they're sober.
If a person is hurtful and abusive when they're drunk, they shouldn't be drinking at all.

Letting go of someone...
I have to speak from my newly mended heart on this one.
To jump into another relationship right away is like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. The hurt is only going to get infected and incarnate itself into your next relationship if you don't let it heal before hand.
Time...though that is a vicious cliche, it is a cliche for a reason.
Try focusing, not on the pain of severing, but rather on the lessons to be learned and, when the wound has healed enough, the great things that came from your temporary union that will add to the experienced, amazing person you are.
Support from friends and family is vital. Retain your individuality and don't let yourself lose your identity into the person you are separating from.
Letting go of something...
All I can say here is that "things" do not define you. Though an object of sentiment or even a house or business you've put so much work and memeories into may seem to be an extention of yourself, don't let yourself be fooled. At the end of the day, what's inside of you is what will always be there and it's what will make all the difference in the future.
And they all lived happily ever after...the end.

Thanks Calleigh.

Thank you. I loved the song you sent. It's beautiful.

Thank you both.

I felt I was a good person when I met you.
I can't find that person anymore.
Perhaps "good" only comes with naivety
And knowledge is the theft of that innocence...

I cannot mourn my loss of it.
self pity must be something that lives in the heart of childlike ways.
And the child in me is passed now
And rests in some unmarked grave.

This is not to say that evil has come to claim me.
It is said that there can be no Satan without God
And God is dead now,
Within me where his temple crumbles...

Nor can I pass blame upon you.
You were only the last soldier to strike in the battle that defeated me.
That I WAS defeated, is only evidence that my strength of self was lacking,
Which is surely my crime and none of your own...

But if you were to search for me someday;
I don't believe that you would find me.
I have become someone else, since I met you.
And that change is now my only reflection.

Who I was is dead, with good reason.
Who I am is not reasonably good.
But if I have gone mad, it is with a righteous anger.

(With a nod to Kahlil Gibran).

yep. I can't even run a web search for it.

Good luck with that.

go bail a friend out of jail...eventually.

They work in a number of cool ways. You can find one person you connect with, find many friends to chat with, get advice, open topics for conversation and meet people all over the world.
Join the forums.
Welcome and Good Luck!

I am SO holding my next cookout in the Safeway parking lot. Brilliant.

I consider myself extremely spiritual as well, but in no way religious.
I'm a firm believer in "Take what works for you and leave the rest.", "Do what you will but do no harm." and "What you do will come back to you."
I've studied many comparative religions, eastern philosophies and tribal practices...and I find that they all have a similar underlying message.
It seems that little disagreements over doctrine and dogma have skewed this message and caused massive conflict that has deviated away from the unity of great hearts, great minds and the potential of a loving outlook on a higher power.
Whatever path you choose, just don't lose sight of the beauty that lies in everyone's freedom of choice.

Every guy I've been with was looking for something different.
One was looking for a mother.
One was looking for fashion accessory to show off.
One was looking for himself.
One was looking to never be alone on a friday night.
One was looking for food, cigarettes and a place to crash.
One was looking for a target to vent his frustrations towards.

So I've kissed alot of frogs... I think that the opposite sex is more often than not just looking for someone who appreciates, cares about and understands them for who they are.
Thus is human nature.

Ernest Hemmingway