I'm always surprised and dismayed when I read what I write about myself. This situation is only part of a continuing thread of what could be considered a lousy life.
But it's not a lousy life, only lousy things happen to us all, and then we get on with life - and try not to think too hard.
I appreciate your friendly comments - I haven't talked for a long time about such things. They really aren't that uncommon among people - we just don't talk about them - for the good of the congregation, etc. The downside to that encouragement, which I've been the recipient of at least a half dozen times in extremely serious situations, is that if we're quiet - the next guy or child is a sitting duck. But I guess they'll be told to be quiet also, and so the cycle continues.
That argument - be quiet for the good of the (whatever), by the way, is the same argument that families, etc. use to keep child molesters unknown. I also know this because I, like many others, was severly abused by my father & his friends. My mother always preached to us: "what goes on behind these 4 walls (our house) doesn't leave here." It didn't leave, and my father abused me for 2 decades, my brother for 12 years (the same one who sodomized my daughter), and abused my daughter as an infant.
Sad to say, I had no memory of my father's abuse until my mother died, which was long after my daughter was grown and a victim in her own right.
I've been through years of bad & good therepy, no longer taking anti-depressants, and enjoy much about my life. People are resilient - God is good after all.
Back to letter writing to the Society - I did write another 133 page letter about buying our local Kingdom Hall from our body of elders and being cheated, swindled, and lied to (Insight Book style.)
But that's for another time - my husband and I are still waiting to hear from them, it's been a year.
Thanks again for your words of comfort.