[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] grampa game17 Time : after I beat Halo 1 on Legendary Place : a busling Midwest City Disposition : Bleak SITUATION; I had recently learned from my ex,..immediate family members,... and friends that my son who was 18 at the time was exhibiting strange behavior. This news was a serious blow that I really didn't need in my near unmanagable but somewhat comfortable little world because my younger brother and sister (who are in their 40's now) both still suffer from schizophrenia and neither of them are completely self-sufficient. Both live in assisted living facillities and are required to take a handfull of pills a day. The insidious desease manifested itself in both my siblings while they were in their still in their mid to late teens. My bother, who could play guitar like Van Halen would never go on to be the next Jimi Hendrix, and my sister who was voted HomeComing Queen in her junior year and who was also an virtuouso jazz dancer would never realize her dreams on the Big Stage. And now it seemed than the dreaded family curse had also fallen on my only son. This was verified after I finally got a chance to observe my son's behavior first hand. The moment I saw him I knew that the mind-depleating gene had been passed onto my son in the "active" form. (schizophrenia usually hits between the early adolesent and adult years) Immediately the effects of the illness was painfully apparent,.. His scathing wit,.. invincible sports skills, and remarkably magnetic personality were for lack of a better term...Fried/gone. He was talking to himself and laughing when nothing was funny and he seemed to be living inside of this own universe. Whatever was happening on the inside of his mind, was clearly manifesting in his five senses as if he had access to his own personal portable virtual world. The reality of it all would have sent me spiralling into oblivion, except I was the only one left unfazed by the illness in my family and for me to fail now would have surely broken my fathers heart. I made a decision that there wouldn't be anymore failure,.... anymore tragedy in my family, and I discovered that even though my son was a mere shadow of who he once was, ....and the young man that I had grown to respect and admire so much was lost to me forever, strangely enough, I discovered that loved him even more. (Where does Halo come into all this?.. in ways you wouldn't believe, ) My ex-wife and I tricked him into going to the Emergency Mental Unit at the local hospital by telling him that he had to take a mandatory physical in order to get on my insurance. He had been living at his sisters house(and subsequently kicked out on the streets), she could no longer tolerate his intolerably sloppy ways and unpredictable psychotic behavior, ... as usual,... after his friends had become aware that he had gone on a one-way ticket to loony-land, they no longer desired to have any further "fellowship" with him. Meanwhile back at the Mental Unit, he became aware that instead of getting a so-called physical examination he was actually taking a mental accuity test, when that realization finally sunk into his warped consciousness he suddenly made a break down the hall toward the exit doors. He was already 6'1,.... 205 lbs,... a solid mass of finely tuned muscle with advanced super-cyborg-like coordination,.. he looked like one of those special team runners, going for the touch down after receiving the kick-off,... he hurdled over desks, chairs, gurneys and even the heads of the medical staff(Jackie Chan style) untill six doctors and interns finally brought him down with much difficulty just inches before he could reach the exit. Alarms were going off all over the place,.. They injected him with a powerful traquilizer and strapped him into a gurney, yet he was still straining to burst free of his bonds,.. his eyes afire with rage and the contempt that comes with being betrayed. When I approached his padded cell which was steel reinforced with only one small square window to see inside his cell, he glowered at me with loathing in his eyes,.. the feeling of hate and betrayal in his heated gaze was so palpable I could barely return my eyes to meet his. I just looked at him and shed a solitary tear and told him that I loved him, and this brief incarceration was necessary to access the full status of his illness, He stormed away from the door in disgust and turned his back on me. . another way of telling me that I was no better than a TRAITOR. Of course I went home and had a good cry. When I came back to the hospital the next morning I practically begged him to cooperate with the medical staff so I could move him in with me when the 3 day medical evaluation was finished (yes,... OL Grampa was going to have give up the free swingin' halo playin' bachelor pad, again). he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. THE HALO MANDATE: 28 days later he was settled into my crib, I told him we wasn't going to be an institution rat like my brother, trained to just watch tv all day, while waiting on his pill, soda, cigarette, and snicker breaks.. Noooo , Dude was going to work, medicated and all. We went out every morning to the temp labor place(while filing out apps during the downtime), I figured that if we couldn't get him an assignment then we could at least get him in the habit of getting up every morning and getting him ready "to" work. He was taking medication but he had developed some odd facial ticks along with some rather disconcerting body language that just reeked of "totally unnatural". He often lumbered along like a lobotomized drone(or like Lurch from the old "Adams Family" sitcom), and he needed a maximum amount of supervision. He also still laughed and giggled for no reason, but the young head-case could still do minimum wage labor, thank God. after 6 weeks my prayers were answered (sort of), he told me that he no longer wanted to take the medication. It was risky to be sure, do I want him to revert to being a full blown psycho?, or do we retain the semi-controlled but definitely sedate and much duller version... I trusted him,.. FLUSH EM' I said. the facial ticks and the decidedly disturbing body language began to fade away after a couple weeks. and I started to see flashes and sparks of his snazzy old self shine thru every once and a while. My work schedule had changed so I had to leave my son at home by himself. I wanted him to get involved with an activity that would fully engage his mind and challenge him to a certain extent. I had him reading the paper and writing reports of the articles that I picked out for him,.. busy work for sure,.. but it helped his basic communication skills while keeping him in touch with the real world,.. the last thing I wanted was for him to be at home day-dreaming or hallucinating all day. But we needed something more... ENTER HALO I had finished the entire halo 1 campaign on legendary and had never had a game play like that before(like the game was alive), yes now I can see all the routines and could probably write a flow chart detailing the AI but at the time 7-8 years ago, it was a completer and utter wonder to me. The experience was so exhilliarating and riveting, that after I finished I felt like I had won an olympic gold medal. I challenged my son to beat the level where you get a sniper rifle and have to kill off all the Covenent in the dark, before eventually being transported to their ship where up to 5 invisible Elites await you with menace in their hearts, cunning in their brains and a plasma rifle in their wicked grip. After surviving that portion of the level getting up the 3 or 4 decks to open the bay doors is a near impossible task,.. its literally a minefield of enemies spawning in front and behind,... with certain death below. That level seemed longer than some entire games on legendary. .. Don't laugh but it took me 2 weeks,.. 3hours a day to finally beat it the 1st time thru. I told him that he must complete that level on legendary,.. before he could partake of any priviliges or have any special requests granted,.. and promised him a crisp $50 bill if he could pull it off. He had retired from gaming entirely when he was around 16 to chase girls before the onset of his illness but agreed to my terms anyway probably because he needed the cigarette money. For me, this was a stress test,... an evaluation,.. I wanted to see if he could handle adversity. I wanted to see if he had the will to win,.. if he had the drive to overcome to keep pressing on and succeed against terrifying odds. would he fold?,.. did he have the mental tenacity to endure the challenge?.... time would tell. I watched him attack the game with a fevor and furry that was only outstripped by his patience and determination. he didn't ask for me to relax my terms and I never asked him how his progress was coming along. but after 8 days and 7nights, he had completed the task. Hence my evaluation: .....If you can beat halo on legendary, there's not much you can't do,.. mentally handicapped or not. From that day forward I pushed him. Pushed him hard,.. He eventually got a job, .. a car,.. an apartment,.... he has many friends and is an assistant manager where he works. and He learned how to speak spanish fluently,.. and is a productive member of his community,.. this is 8 years after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. he is 26 today (now he just needs his ged) I want to thank Bungie for creating such a remarkable game. when my boy beat that level on legendary, that was the break of dawn that swept away the impending darkness,.. it was the light that led the way to restoration, and It was tool that helped my son find his way back. PLEASE TALK TO A DOCTOR BEFORE TRYING THIS AT HOME may not work for everyone Thank You Bungie, and thanks for reading. peace. [/quote] dude somebody tell me why is it that u find