Posted on 03/19/2005 8:30:22 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
Thanks. At least I'm not alone. Be prepared for the naysayers.
My thoughts, too. Pushed too hard. This is so sad and a terrible waste.
isthisnickcool wrote: "Gee, you don't sound like a happygal.....
The bottom line is that he killed himself. And that's not too bright."
Forgive me for interrupting, but I think that "happygal" was just responding in a heartfelt way to such tragic news. How could any woman be a "happygal" after hearing such news. I mean, common people....let's be kind to each other. :)
It would be nice to be 14 again. I'd be more careful than this poor kid when it came to guns. Yea, 14 would be a good age. It's a perfect age for telling people to shut up or to use the word piss.
Noted.
Be careful what you post in future btw. Your words may come back to haunt you.
I wonder if there was a sort of schizophrenia, torn between being a child and being a gorger of facts and data, spitting out compositions as a 'prodigy' with the child mind wanting to just play at nonsense? These children are the gems God offers to us; I wish more study were being done regarding maintaining a sense of normalcy with the extremely gifted.
My take on this: the kid was born with a higher than normal intellect, thus manifesting genetic material that was in greater abundance before the Fall. His parents had no idea what was lurking in their genes. The kid was probably so disgusted with how stupid the rest of us are, and how incapable he could possibly be in helping, that he decided to make a hasty exit. The same exit that took Adam hundreds of years to experience by so called "natural causes." Nice of this young kid to be a gentleman in view of the fallen world he so briefly imbibed. Wish he were still with us. Hope he was baptized into Christ Jesus and that I might see him in the life to come.
I understand how you feel, Happygal. In our little town we had two suicides in one year, and both were young people (teens)...both male. One was having a rough time at home, and the other was having a rough time with life in general. Both were in need of help, both just fell through the cracks between communication and understanding, and both died. Most everyone in this town mourned their deaths, and wished we could have "known" what was going on in their minds. But then there were those who were more hard-hearted about their deaths. Ahhh, it just takes all kinds and everyone deals with death in a different way. Oh well....and so it goes.... sigh
Heh.. sounds like you are the one playing God here. You are passing quite a bit of judgment and asserting a lot of knowledge about this young boy while the rest of us know so little.
Why is it that the zealots always come off as cold, callous and unforgiving when the claimed cornerstone of their religious beliefs, Jesus, taught forgiveness and compassion?
We've had some terrible news lately, with Jessica, Terri, and others, but this has to be the worst news I've heard lately. I don't know what was going through this young man's head that he felt he had to do this...his parents must be absolutely destroyed.
I understand many people believe as you do. Can I ask a couple questions?
#1. When Jesus died on the cross did he die for all my sins, including the ones I haven't yet committed, or only the sins that I have already committed?
#2. If I died in the middle of telling a lie, before confessing my sin, would I go to hell?
"The trouble is that we all see him through our own eyes and experience. The very gifted often are overwhelmed by the stuff/conflicts we screen out. Their minds go "beserker" trying to make sense out of what we ignore.
It does no good to blame parents, for they also are doing the best they can in a morass of "values"."
Amen to that, jacquej.
My God is merciful to kind, decent children.
Yer a good heart. :-)
Suicide..where to start. A horrible selfishness, and a terrible loneliness. It leaves so many 'If only...' questions for everyone left behind.
I've witnessed it in my family..and I've seen it in other families.
But, I don't believe those who have passed on are damned. The Lord will give them the solace they crave. Like I said earlier, my God is all-loving, and all-forgiving.
This kind of thinking may have been a key, if his mother and loved ones actually believed this.
Actually, it's entirely possible. My son's in college now but when we were homeschooling, we knew a few highly gifted kids and they truly are self-driven, hard charging type-A personalities. One family started their daughter out in public school, but after a while, she would hide in the closet and cry every morning and beg her mother to let her stay home. She was bored in the extreme (in the ludicrous, socialist world of public school the teacher wouldn't allow her to read books when she finished assignments early because it might make her classmates feel bad). The other kids didn't like her because she was smart (she wasn't like THEM) and teased her constantly.
Finally her parents decided to homeschool her when she was about 9 and both parents and daughter felt like a great weight had been lifted. She finished correspondence high school in a year (and probably would've done it sooner but mom put the brakes on and made her do other activities as well). She played classical piano beautifully and even gave lessons to other homeschoolers. She also loved biology and writing plays. I don't ever remember thinking she was arrogant (though she wasn't afraid to give an answer if she knew it) and she had plenty of friends, including my son, who's a pretty regular guy. But because her mind went a mile a minute, she would finish up one project and immediately be ready to start the next one. Her parents toughest challenge was just trying to make sure she had enough to do.
Also, while it's not exactly the same, my son was a gifted soccer player (classic at 9, adult leagues at 13, training in Europe at 16). Before I had him, I'd hear about some figure skater or gymnast and her grueling schedule and wonder how her parents could DO that to her...I was NEVER going to be like that...it bordered on abuse. Sometimes God has interesting ways of showing you how little you know.
This boy, from the time he was 4 would eat sleep and breath soccer...he slept with a soccer ball instead of a teddy bear. I'm about as athletic as celery, so this was like living with a foreigner. He played year round, indoor and out, attended every camp he could find and thought it was cruel and unusual punishment when we did make him slow down. Twice he was injured badly enough that he couldn't play for a while and he was an absolute bear to live with. At no time did we force him to play, to tell him what team to try out for, etc. In fact, his drive made me tired. He hated how cut-throat and competitive it was, but he loved the game and you could see it in his entire body when he was on the field. When he started college, he just decided not to play competitively anymore (good thing since his school doesn't have a soccer team). However, I learned a good lesson about not prejudging families whose kids and parents seemed "too" involved in one activity or another.
Cindie
Again, I'm not trying to be critical but these comments throw a red flag up to me as well.
Interrupt all you want. That's why JimRob built this place.
I get snippy when people here tell others to shut up when they offer their own view on a topic. In this case obviously based on a personal religious view. A view I hope is incorrect, by the way. I'd prefer that as soon as the youngster died he found himself having a conversation with the Lord about matrices, vectors and linear equations. Heck, I'd like to have one about that with Him too. Because I hated that stuff in college. Maybe that's what Heaven is about? We all get to be as smart as this kid was supposed to have been.
Recently I watched an 8 year old slowly die of cancer. She fought to the last breath. I once witnessed a fellow get shot. He fought to the last breath. Same thing with a fellow I pulled out of a burning car and another I helped give CPR to. They all wanted to live. But didn't. So when someone kill themselves I hate to hear it. It's sad. But it makes me a little mad too. When they waste something I've seen others fight so hard to keep. And lose.
I don't think this kid or his method of schooling fits the traditional home-schooling model.
Besides, when looking at home-schooling vs. public schooling, it is broad trends and statistics that we must look to, as in any inquiry, rather than simply isolated incidents and anectdotal evidence.
There are alway exceptions on both sides.
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