?QUE!?

[Earl]

(muffled, stifled, silenced)

[Earl]

If you'd like, I could get an enlarged copy for you to display in the living room of your home for everyone to see.

Get one for me too! I see a new design for my flat coming together...

Mrs. Earl guffawed.

[Earl]

Now now, don't jump to conclusions. Maybe he just likes bobcats.

Mrs. Earl guffawed.

[Fat Man]

By the way Earl, what's with the new addition to your signature? Montana State Bobcats? Isn't that a football team? Are you defecting to the side of sports? I shall have to follow in your wise path - football is the only way to go in life!

Hi, i_like_1981. The Montana State Bobcats is Andy's football team. I'm simply honoring him with the addition to my signature. (Well, I must admit that I also wanted to provoke a reaction from other members. ) Seriously, though, since he's a nice guy, I now root for his team.

No, I am not defecting to the side of sports. Don't worry. I don't even know how the game of football is played.

Maybe you should just root for Andy. The rest of the team could be rapist thugs. Personally i support individual people rather then being prejudice and assuming the whole team is comprised of like minded people (see it can work both ways)
ah heck, who am i kidin' ? I'm pretty much prejudice against sports people, at least until proven that they deserve my support.

Well, I have to admit it. I'm prejudice.

Yes, I know Andy is a good guy.

OK, I'm going to tell the whole truth here. I'm angry and prejudice because I am envious.

Andy had a lot of opportunities to get a good education, opportunities that I had been denied over and over again and again.

Maybe, if I didn't have that accident at the age of 4 when I fell out of a car and busted my left knee on the pavement, things might have been different.

I would not have been walking with a limp. I would have been able to run. I would have been able to climb that rope in the gymnasium, and I would not have been suspended from school.

If I had been good in PE and sports, then in my school, they might have been more tolerant of my wanting to read Astronomy books and being interested in science.

That is why Andy is able to pursue a career in nursing. Because he was good at sports, they let him be. In school he was allowed to do what he wanted because he was good at sports and played football, so he was able to get an education and pursue a career in nursing.

But because I was a cripple, I had no rights.

Disabled students in our schools are more severely punished than the more able-bodied students, and athletes never get punished at all.

And now, we have boarding schools here in the USA where handicapped students are punished with electric shocks, not allowed to associate with one another, and are fed mashed potatoes with dried liver powder.

But athletes don't have to worry about being tortured!

No, only handicapped students get beaten and tortured in the good ol' USA!

Now, if Andy had been physically handicapped as I was, and was unable to participate in sports, then he would have also been bullied around, and denied a decent education.

That's why I hate Andy!

There! I laid all my cards on the table. I'm showing what's in my hand.

Andy wins! He can pick up all the chips now.

But I knew from the start I was going to lose. The deck was stacked and I was dealt a sucker hand!

The deck is stacked, the cards are marked, the wheel is fixed, and the dice are loaded!

So, all I have to say to Andy is . . . GOOD FOR YOU!!!

Hey Andy! I hope you have a very very very successful nursing career. I really do!

And I hope that when you do, all the patients you will be caring for will all have been victims of sports violence.

For example:

One night you're taking care of a young lady who is all beaten and bruised all over because she had been raped by a football player.

Then the following evening, you're caring for some teenage kid paralyzed from the waist down due to spinal injuries from being thrown down a flight of stairs by some jock in his high school.

Then one afternoon, you're treating another high school student for cuts and lacerations all over his body from being throwing through a plate glass window by another high school jock.

Then the next day, you're caring for another high school student who is quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down because when he was riding home from school on his bicycle, he was run off the road by a car full of drunken jocks that knocked him into a ditch.

Yes Andy!

I hope that is all the cases that you'll get through out your entire nursing career. Having to take care of the victims of sports violence.

Or perhaps you would like to be a professional shrink, a therapist who is treating some crazy whack-job like me for anxiety, depression, PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after having spent a few weeks in a loony-bin where I was beaten and raped!

Oh! I'm sure I would be one of your most fun cases!

WWWEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

They're coming to take me away ha ha!
They're coming to take me away ho ho!
The little white men in the little white coats
are coming to take me away!

WWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Now, does that make Andy superior because he was good at both academics and athletics?

No! It just means he was lucky, and got dealt a good hand, and probably had another ace hidden up his sleeve.

He came into these forums with his smug looking avatar and bragging about donating bicycles to AIDS patients in Africa, and about how good life is going for him.

While in school, I got my head bashed against a brick wall in an argument with some teacher who would not allow me to read Astronomy books.

I'm sorry. But I'm not able to be polite to an athlete, even if he is one of the very few who are not bullies.

That's because the part of my brain that would normally enable me to be polite to athletes has been very badly damaged from being used as a human punching bag too many times.

So, to all the athletes, I have to say . . . . .

Sorry . . . . . but when I see someone in a helmet and a jersey, I can only use dirty four-letter words when speaking to him.

I really can't help it. The polite part of my brain is damaged!

So, deal with it MUTHA-FUCKERS!!!

[Earl]

Fat Man, I wish I had the power to give you peace of mind. You've lived a harder life than most people I know. You say that you hate Andy because you're jealous of him, but I know you better than that. You really don't hate Andy. You have a great capacity to show love to others, but you've been so deeply hurt that you let anger get in the way.

The world is full of suffering and injustice. Think of young soldiers who are killed in wars or are maimed for life. Think of the tens of millions of people whose lives were wiped out so horribly by totalitarian regimes of the last century. Think of the way black Americans and other minorities have been mistreated in this country's past. If you look around the world, you will see that other countries have similar histories regarding their own minority groups, some even worse than ours. Even today in prosperous countries some babies are born with crippling birth defects. You are not alone in your suffering.

You shouldn't be jealous of Andy. He did not choose the circumstances of his birth or his family background. Yes, he has been blessed; but no one knows what his life will be like in the future. Perhaps he will face hardship later in his life. Perhaps his life will be cut short. He could be killed overseas in a foreign country far from home. Maybe not, but does that matter? I have no doubt that Andy is a caring person. I know for a fact that he is a sensitive guy. Why else would he want to become a nurse, a profession that was relegated to women until recently? A nephew of ours recently chose nursing as a career himself. He was subjected to discrimination in the nursing classes he took by an instructor (a woman) who thought that men had no place in nursing. Perhaps Andy will face this sort of discrimination when he has graduated from Montana State. Perhaps several of his teammates ridicule him for choosing nursing as a profession.

Fat Man, like everyone else, I've experienced jealousy; but I've also learned that someone whom you're jealous of may have problems that you're not aware of. When I was a teenager, I once met a guy about my age in a psychotherapy group who made me feel jealous as soon as I saw him. He was a good-looking guy who had a mesomorphic build. I envied him because I had a slight build and was not as husky as he was. You would think that he had a lot of self-confidence; but he did not because he had his own personal demons, as so many of us do. Despite his rugged physique, he felt that he was not very masculine simply because he had an undescended testicle. Two years later he sought to medicate his pain with illegal drugs that destroyed his mind. He ended up as a patient in a psychiatric ward, never to recover. He possibly is dead by now. Despite his good looks, what sort of life did he have? The point is that you should not be jealous of other people, because you never know all that is going on in their lives.

As I said before, my dear friend, I wish I could give you peace of mind. I wish you could let go of the past, as traumatic as yours is. Come to think of it, I should say especially because yours has been so traumatic. You deserve some happiness in your life for a change. I'm not telling you that you should unconditionally forgive. I simply mean that you should not let the way you were horribly treated in the past make you feel miserable for the rest of your life. Am I saying that letting go is easy? Not at all. I hate to think how I might have turned out if I had suffered all that you've gone through. I think you may be stronger than you give yourself credit.

You should not get upset over things you can do nothing about. Instead, you should turn your attention to what is beautiful in this world. You still have the capacity to appreciate the wonders of astronomy and the world of mathematics, which some have called the language of science. I think you also appreciate humorous entertainment of the sort rotten and I enjoy. You should stop pounding your head against the world of human failings and injustices and give yourself a break by not getting yourself upset over things you can do nothing about. I'm not saying that you should become self-centered and selfish. Far from it. I'm just saying that you need to go easy on yourself and allow yourself to experience some relief. You deserve it, my friend.

[Fat Man]

Hello Earl.

Things are getting worse here in the USA.

The Bush Administration sanctioned the use of torture on war prisoners. So, the USA is becoming just another Banana Republic.

We have boarding schools for handicapped children where they are being punished with electric shocks, something we don't even do to prison inmates, but we do it to children.

The ACLU is defending NAMBLA, and they want to lower the age of consent and normalize pedophilia.

Anyone who even speaks out against pedophilia runs the risk of being charged with a hate crime.

People are being displaced from their homes to build sports arenas and math teachers in schools are being fired so they can hire more athletic coaches.

I have been harassed through my E-mails and phone calls just simply because I speak my mind against sports, so we no longer have freedom of speech.

The USA is getting really fucked up!

[Earl]

And what can you do about it? Absolutely nothing, as far as I know. I know perfectly well that our country is in deep trouble. I wonder what sort of life my two daughters will have when their parents are no longer around. Will this country be better off, or will this country be even worse off than it has ever been? Fat Man, there is nothing that you and I can do about it. That is the responsibility of those who have the ability and the power to effect the changes that need to be made. If there is an organization that fights for the welfare of disabled children in this country, you should join them and do what you can. Otherwise, there is nothing you can do. Agonizing over tragedies that are beyond your control will only hurt you and make your life even more miserable. I repeat what I said in my previous post. You need to give yourself a break. Obsessing over injustices (real and perceived) will do nothing to alleviate them. Sadly, there is not much that you can do. You are in no position to be able to do much. Maybe someday you will be able to help someone who comes into your life. In the meantime, though, you need to give yourself a break.

[Earl]

Earl I would rather replace the team logos with something of more "interest." Like different types of swords or types of animals.

Good idea. How about pictures of snakes?

[Fat Man]

And what can you do about it? Absolutely nothing, as far as I know. I know perfectly well that our country is in deep trouble. I wonder what sort of life my two daughters will have when their parents are no longer around. Will this country be better off, or will this country be even worse off than it has ever been? Fat Man, there is nothing that you and I can do about it. That is the responsibility of those who have the ability and the power to effect the changes that need to be made. If there is an organization that fights for the welfare of disabled children in this country, you should join them and do what you can. Otherwise, there is nothing you can do. Agonizing over tragedies that are beyond your control will only hurt you and make your life even more miserable. I repeat what I said in my previous post. You need to give yourself a break. Obsessing over injustices (real and perceived) will do nothing to alleviate them. Sadly, there is not much that you can do. You are in no position to be able to do much. Maybe someday you will be able to help someone who comes into your life. In the meantime, though, you need to give yourself a break.

Good morning Earl.

You know, I truly regret that Andy has not come back to these forums again, because I would like very much if he had stayed around long enough to read some of my forum posts concerning the boarding school where disabled children are punished with electric shocks.

While Andy is living a life of comfort and ease and is able to socialize with friends, the children in these boarding schools are getting woke up in the middle of the night with electric shocks and they are not allowed to socialize with one another.

While Andy is eating T-bone or sirloin stakes, the children in these boarding homes are being fed mashed potatoes with dried liver powder sprinkled on them.

While Andy is having a cold beer, the children in these boarding homes are forced to drink hot sauce and vinegar.

In the USA athletes live the good life and they don't get tortured. Only handicapped children get tortured and starved. But it doesn't happen to athletes. No, they get free $100,000 dollar Hummers that they can park all day long in 15 minute parking zones and they get to rape our women and then they get paid millions of dollars just for chasing a ball.

But I get called a leech because I get a lousy little $650 dollar per month disability check!

Fuck the USA!

OK, so Andy is a good guy. He's not a bully.

Yes, I sincerely hope he is very successful in his nursing career.

I hope he proudly displays his medical school diplomas and other awards that he might receive during his nursing career.

But I also hope that the rest of his life is like an episode of The Twilight Zone or Night Gallery.

I hope that for the rest of his life, he only gets to treat the victims of sports violence, women who have been beaten and raped by football players, and guys who have been permanently injured from the beatings they received in the high schools by jocks.

I hope for the rest of his life he as to look into the faces of these victims of sports violence.

And then, he will become too ashamed to display any of his sports trophies.

Those will end up in a box down in the basement of his nice big fancy house gathering dust or becoming tarnished.

I want him to be proud of his nursing career and ashamed of his athletic accomplishments.

I have to live with a lot of bad memories. My life is like The Twilight Zone or Night Gallery.

I have to live with the arthritis in my ankles and my knees, and when my left knee is hurting, it brings back the haunting memories of how I was suspended from school because I failed to climb that stupid rope in the gym, and how being lousy at sports made all of my school life a living Hell for me.

The pain in my left knee, it haunts me, and it mocks me!

So, I want Andy to be haunted for the rest of his life, by only getting patients who are the victims of sports violence, and having to look into their faces, and becoming too ashamed to display any of his athletic trophies.

I want him to get, as Rod Serling once said at the end of one of his Night Gallery episodes, his "never ending helpings of just desserts!"

[Earl]

Fat Man, youâ??ve got to realize that there is no connection whatsoever between Andy and disabled children mistreated in boarding schools. Very likely heâ??s never even heard of this scandal. Also, Andy is not living a life of ease. Heâ??s working very hard as a university student excelling academically while also playing football. He has a lot of demands placed on his time. If Andy spends his life working as a nurse, I doubt that he will ever end up living in a â??nice big fancy house.â? Please remember that nursing is not a high-paying profession. When Rod Serling speaks of a character in a Twilight Zone or Night Gallery episode receiving â??never ending helpings of just desserts,â? heâ??s referring to an evil character or a character whoâ??s a big jerk. Serling wouldnâ??t think that Andy was evil or a jerk, and neither do I. He does not need to be ashamed for merely participating in a sport, and he is not responsible for the actions of individual football players who are jerks or worse.

Fat Man, what you've got to realize is that the problem lies not with playing the game of football, but with the culture that is associated with the game and/or the family backgrounds of individual players. As far as professional football players being paid obscenely huge salaries, the football fans themselves make that possible, not people like you and me. The sad fact is that we live in a celebrity-driven culture. Think of how much money rock stars make. What do they contribute to society? Except for providing entertainment in the form of singing songs (some or many of which are completely unwholesome), absolutely nothing. Their lifestyles are just as debased as that of some professional football players. In fact, they (along with some country and western singers) have a negative impact on our culture with their promotion of immorality. And look at the Hollywood actors who pass themselves off as being experts on causes they know nothing about. Give me a break.

Like Iâ??ve said before, we live in a world full of injustice and inequality. I wish you could think of yourself as having been toughened by all the terrible experiences you have endured in your life. Iâ??m afraid of how I might have reacted. Believe me, Iâ??m not talking down to you. I donâ??t deny the reality of the struggles you face from day to day. I wish there was some way I could help you, but there is nothing more that I can do except listen to you. I donâ??t know what else to say now.

[i_like_1981]

He was a pleasant, agreeable guy and I regret ranting at him on the guestbook (even though said contempt was directed towards our old enemy, Harold, who started bragging on the gridiron thread about how great he was for spouting his hate on our website), and I respect what he is doing to help the people in Africa who aren't so lucky as to get the opportunities he has had. But it would have probably been for the best that Andy didn't come onto this website in the first place and I see why he is staying away. He doesn't deserve to be compared to low-lifes like Samdamoron but it's happening anyway. I don't think it's fair that all this stuff is being blamed on him. I'd say that he was more helping disadvantaged people with his charitable work in Africa than advocating what is being said in this thread.

And I read some posts by another sports bore, SpeedofLeicht, and I don't think he's that bad. Sure, the odd comment of his was nasty but I think calling him a hateful bigot is a bit much. I'd say he was more sarcastic and subtly insulting with his constant posting up of sports news than a full blown bully like Samdaman. Now that guy really was insane. I hope someone he knew read his comments on here and had him checked out, because such constant and prolonged hatred towards people you've never even met is a sign of a potential murderer, rapist or stalker.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Earl]

Seriously, Samdaman is someone whose mind I'd love to read. What drove his fanaticism (which is completely fascinating)? Did he feel threatened by this website in some way, or was he just a garden variety bully? Seems to me a secure person wouldn't waste time messing with this website.

[Earl]

He came into these forums with his smug looking avatar and bragging about donating bicycles to AIDS patients in Africa, and about how good life is going for him.

Looking at his avatar, I cannot even see the expression on Andy's face; so, I wouldn't say that his avatar is "smug looking." The reason he came into this forum was just to show that he was a caring person. His example actually contradicts the macho stereotype.

[i_like_1981]

He came into these forums with his smug looking avatar and bragging about donating bicycles to AIDS patients in Africa, and about how good life is going for him.

Looking at his avatar, I cannot even see the expression on Andy's face; so, I wouldn't say that his avatar is "smug looking." The reason he came into this forum was just to show that he was a caring person. His example actually contradicts the macho stereotype.

Was that avatar meant to be a picture of HIM? I thought the Bobcats were just the team he supported; I didn't realise he actually played for them. Is this one of the things he told just you personally? I certainly would not use a picture of myself as an avatar, but I know a few people on here who seem to have more pride in their appearance...

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Fat Man]

He came into these forums with his smug looking avatar and bragging about donating bicycles to AIDS patients in Africa, and about how good life is going for him.

Looking at his avatar, I cannot even see the expression on Andy's face; so, I wouldn't say that his avatar is "smug looking." The reason he came into this forum was just to show that he was a caring person. His example actually contradicts the macho stereotype.

Was that avatar meant to be a picture of HIM? I thought the Bobcats were just the team he supported; I didn't realise he actually played for them. Is this one of the things he told just you personally? I certainly would not use a picture of myself as an avatar, but I know a few people on here who seem to have more pride in their appearance...

Best regards,
i_like_1981

Well, I have my photo on my Avatar.

Of course, it's outdated. That photo was taken of me back in April of 2007 when I only weighed about 370 pounds. So, I'm a little bit fatter now.

My health care worker comes on Monday's Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in the afternoon. I really enjoy her company. She's like a sister to me.

Anyway, she love us fat people! She thinks we fat people are kind of cute, and I'm her favorite client.

She says I look like a great big Teddy Bear!

And when it's time for her to go, she always gives me a big hug.