After reading jgnat's post I got to thinking about something that happened to me. I was never baptized so the elders were limited on what they could do to me. Still they were able to make my life miserable through my mother so sometimes I towed the line. I picked my battles. When I was about 17/18 I had long since quit going to meetings and my mom and I were having some major problems in our relationship (nothing new). I was close to graduation and mom new I was on the verge of moving out. I guess mom wanted to some how repair our relationship before I moved out and she thought the elders could fix our problems.
An elder called me up on the phone and asked if I had a minute to talk to him. I told him yes and he said that my mom was very distressed and that he would like to sit down and talk. He went on to say that I was causing mom a lot of trouble. I was like what the hell. I told him that mom should not be discussing our personal business and that it was not his concern. I then got the old I can see you still have the same rebellious attitude. I did the damn straight and started laughing. I could not stop laughing for anything.
The elder on some level knew I did not give a shit what he thought but until I laughed at this elder on the phone I don't think he really believed it. There was nothing he could say to me. He knew that the days of me towing the line were over. They did not leave me alone completely after that but at least from this one elder he never dared try to get in my business again. Why bother. He knew I did not give a shit about what he had to say and he had no power over me. So why bother? He is the type to only want to bully people he know he can get away with it with. Anyone else have similar experiences?
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