That reminds me of some of my roommates in college. They wanted me to move out because there was somebody else they wanted to give my place in the apartment to, but I was stupid and stayed there anyway. So, for the rest of the year they did everything they could to make me miserable. They never talked to me - ignored me and would stop talking any time I entered a room, except when they were complaining about me. I was cut off from my family and didn't really have any other friends. It wasn't long before I was really falling apart. I was doing things like sitting under tables and desks (since I wasn't good enough to be worthy of sitting on a chair) and also making suicidal gestures (cutting on my wrists). These were girls who had been my friends the year before, and I had probably expected too much of them. When we had all just moved into that apartment I had told them that I didn't have very good social skills and didn't know very many people and asked them to introduce me to people and help me make more friends. They said no. Anyway, later in the year when they were confronting me with everything I did wrong there was part of a conversation that I will never forget. They said that I wanted to be treated "special" and I said no, I just wanted to be treated like anybody else - normal , and their reply was "We'll treat you normal when you act normal." I didn't have a reply to that and they threw in, "You just need attention."

I didn't say any more to them, but have thought about that a lot. I did need attention desperately. I had nobody and the people I lived with were treating me as if I didn't exist most of the time and making it clear the rest of the time that they wanted me not to exist. Yes, I needed attention. I needed somebody to care. So, when somebody needs something and even has tried to ask for it in an appropriate way, but has gotten so desperate for it that they are trying anything to communicate that need, why do people think that the best thing to do is to make sure that the thing that is needed continues to be withheld at all cost?

My point is that some people think that it is bad to need attention, but is it bad to need to breath, eat, and have water? People have needs. What's wrong with that? And when someone needs something, doesn't it make more sense to help them get what they need? I'm not saying that any of you are like my roommates were, just illustrating that it is okay and understandable to need attention.
Wendy

<font color=green>Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that, you, too, can become great. -Mark Twain</font color=green>