Letters to the Editor
Brulette
Published Letters: 39 Editor's Choice: 7
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Constant pot smoking retards growth. Period. No way around it.
[Read the article: I'm 21 and addicted to pot -- but I'm doing just great!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I smoke pot every once in a while. I've had times where I smoked a lot of pot, actually, in pretty much the same circumstances as the LW. I've excelled academically and professionally, but that didn't keep addictions at bay for me, nor will it most likely for the LW. I come from a family of potheads. I have a sister who is a serious pothead. I grew up in the Emerald triangle. So trust me when I say that smoking pot with the regularity that you are is retarding your personal growth. We are not processing things when we are high. Trust me. I almost fell into alcoholism, and feel exceedingly grateful to have pushed it away and maintain boundaries with booze, to be able to have a social drink and not compulsively need five, or ten or fifteen until I'm screaming at my boyfriend and raging, and crying . . . and you know, the usual regrettable stuff that drunk people do.
Someone else wrote here that one day when all the exciting intellectual and academic activity in your life metamorphoses into a more workaday, humdrum routine, then that is when the lure and the danger of smoking lots of weed will nail you down. It's waiting in the wings. And another thing? Addictions almost always progress. And over time it does take more weed to get stoned, and that's more money down the bong.
Another note: smoking pot is much worse for your lungs even than cigarettes, and the fact that you smoke both is troubling. Please consider at least giving up cigarettes if you can't give up pot. But please don't smoke them both. You're putting yourself on the fast track for lung cancer.
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Link for "is eating boogers bad for you"
[Read the article: What happened when I Googled For You]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nose_picking
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Is this something we don't know?
[Read the article: Confronting Congolese rapists ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I actually don't find the question of why these men rape compelling. It is pure violence in the context of war. It is simple to understand how raping all the women in an enemy village effectively demoralizes and thus weakens the enemy. That is not a groundbreaking discovery- it's been happening since time immemorial. The "magic potion" reason, which on the surface sounds like odd superstition to Western ears is merely euphemistic for something akin to warrior mojo, a systematic desensitization toward harrowing acts of violence. That fact that we might even wonder that there is another reason stretches the boundaries of common sense. Do we really think that the current warfare in the Congo is so vastly different from the manner in which other wars have been waged and that these men have unique or obscure reasons for violently raping woman after woman?
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Confidence Building
[Read the article: I'm perpetuating the cycle of emotional abuse]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]LW, what strikes me most in your letter is your mention of timidity. To acknowledge having abusive parents can feel like a shameful thing. You can feel as if you're inferior, as if everyone around you is more whole, more properly formed than you and your abusive past. This breeds lack of confidence, which I also think is reflected in your expression of anger toward inanimate objects, rather than people. It is not good to yell and scream and especially not to physically attack people, but assertive, calm expression of anger is healthy. In other words, you need to express your anger in an appropriate way when it occurs and to even sometimes let people know when they are making you angry. Having the confidence to do so I think could be very empowering for you. You will feel less a victim. You will feel like someone who is comfortable with your emotions, enough so not to be trodden on by others who will from time to time do things to make you justifiably angry. So how to go about this confidence building? I would suggest in tandem with Cary martial arts, but also meditation, therapy and other arenas where you can sensibly, safely approach your feelings and own them.
On a personal note my mother called me yesterday and told me something about a conversation she had with her aged parents who have always belittled and overlooked her. She said they were dismissive of her in a way that has always made her angry, and instead of lashing out she said that for the first time, as a middle aged woman, she really felt like she could look at her feelings as they came up, acknowledge them, and them let them go. It's like Thich Nhat Han would say, something like, "Oh feelings, old friends, oh anger, old mighty friend, here you are again . . . I acknowledge you and now I let you go on your way until next time . . ."