--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_re...@...> wrote: > > > "Then one day she poured gasoline on herself and lit herself > > on fire." > > I knew this woman personally. > > She did set fire to herself, but the community came to her support > and she ended up being a VERY active member in terms of being at > pot lucks etc. She wore clothing to cover her massive scarring. > I believe the incident was from a one-time romantic calamity -- > mere speculation on my part at this late date -- fuzzy memory > here. Yes, I'm sure many TBers handled it by way of philosophy, > but all the talk I encountered about her was a fairly compas- > sionate view.
I am pleased to hear it. The account I read on the discussion group was not always so compassionate, as I remember. What I *do* remember is hearing the story as an outsider, someone who has never lived in Fairfield, and then about halfway through the resulting threads putting the name together with some- one I had known briefly in college and having the impact of that hit me. The person I knew in college was one of the liveliest, most generous and outgoing and comfortable-with-herself people I'd ever met at that young stage of my life. And when I did put two and two together and put a face to the name, my first thought then -- and my continuing thought to this day -- was, "WTF *happened*?" I have no answer to that question. <snip> > I've seen or heard about a few "mental cases in FF," but I have > yet to conclude that TM triggers these folks past their tipping > points. Nor, for the record, have I. I have seen things that make me conclude that the TMO *environment* can trigger people past their tipping points. <snip> > And to me, it still is a "village thing." The FF I last knew > was coming into full maturity as a spiritual oasis where many > cults could operate, and the people you meet at, say, Art Night, > will be prepped well enough to not assume how on-or-off-the- > program another person is and to be friendly, circumspect, and > able to go along to get along. That has certainly been my perception of the place given what I have read here. I would expect people in Fairfield the reality to be FAR more civil and tolerant with each other than people in Fairfield the virtual reality.
