>
> However, I do not think it was my horrible lack
of self-esteem which got my last post deleted. I
was sort of thinking at the time that Sam might
have gotten mad about some of the things I said
while arguing that vegetarianism was bad. *shrug*
BTW I am not a newbie. I've been here for about a
year or two. You can look me up in the archives if
you disbelieve. I believe one of my first posts
was on Kurt Vonnegut.
>

Funny you should mention that post. I was able to
read it before it got deleted; and though I don't
remember what you said about vegetarianism, the
part where you mentioned that you would rather be
eaten by hungry tigers than turn 40 years old
stuck in my mind. (gee, I wonder why? Heh--well,
guess how old I am?;-))
My knee-jerk reaction was "Well, if you still feel
that way when you're 39, give me a call and we'll
gladly arrange for a tiger at your next birthday
party". But then reading on, it appeared that
your concern really was about health--how your
parents, in their 40's, are ill and your fear you
may become ill as you age too. And *that* really
rung a bell with me, because I've gone through the
same thing. My mom became chronically ill at 40
and never recovered. I am so much like her it's
not funny, and when I was younger it worried me
that I would come down with the same thing. So, if
I had been able to, I might have offered you this
perspective:

Now that I'm here at that age, it does not really
worry me anymore. Yeah, when I feel a twinge or
ache it does cross my mind, but as long as I'm
taking reasonable care of myself, there's no point
in worrying about something I can't control.
I believe God is sovereign, and if is for me to go
through the same illness as my mom, then I only
hope to face it with the same grace and dignity
that she did.

...however, the style of your post didn't really
lend itself to such a serious response!--so I kind
of thought twice about responding at all..

...then *poof* it was gone.

>
> Mel"I did mention I was 16. It is hard to have
self-esteem at 16. Well... Maybe it's just me..."anie

What's hard to have at 16 is a sense of
perspective. As far as *self esteem* goes, I
would rather see you develop *self respect*.

koalamom