Teresa, thank you for your eloquent post! And thanks to everyone who chimed in on the discussion so respectfully and tactfully...this is a loaded topic. There are numerous tragedies interwoven in the issues Teresa, and all of us, have addressed here. How sad that NO ONE ever questioned the teen mother about her living situation, and that the teen herself felt unable to open up and speak out about the hardships she was facing. How sad that to ask for help is so often thought of as weakness or a character flaw (I am thinking of one pop-psych radio personality who regularly reams people who call her honestly searching for help). How sad that many people seem to believe that working hard somehow detracts from what is achieved, and that an effortless life is the ultimate goal (when in fact it is a complete myth). There are no easy solutions to the epidemic of turning away from individual responsibility. I do feel that, from taking responsibility for ourselves, we learn how to be responsible for our culture, our countries, and our world. Where is the chain being weakened? Working in lactation has brought a lot of issues into sharp focus for me; this is one of them. Thanks again to all who joined in...I think all of you are amazing! Carole who is now going to set aside her angst and enjoy her daughter's 6th birthday at the beach! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html