Anger

dawg

I'm not trying to defend anyone's actions including mine, but I can certainly see how many of us feel anger.... My father is a sucessful business man, loved in the community by the "worldly" and the JWs alike; he's also very logical in almost everyway until we talk about the Witnesses. Becasue he's so chrismatic, he's played a role in converting almost everyone in the family-I'm Irish so it's one darn big family, into being devout JWs.

When I think about how much I love my dad, and my family and couple that with the fact that the only beef we have with one another is the fact that I see through the GB lies; it makes me mad that the love I once felt will never be there again becasue of this division. I think about how I'd liked to have a normal life if there is such a thing.

Basically it makes me angry that he can't see how people can thinik differently about the witneses than he, he calls me an fornicator even though he knows nothing about my personal life... he does anyting including attacking me to defend a bunch of fools in Brooklyn-men he doesn't even know...and tops all that off with complete lack of knowledge of not only the BIble, but he refuses to even read something that may shed light on the fools that run the org. After all that, he tells me that I'm the one ignorant of the subject at hand-this after he refuses to even read something that shows he's the one wrong.

Basically this is his argument; believe like me, if you don't then your immoral, I will never read anything that may prove I'm wrong, and if you speak out against what I believe then you are "apostate" to god and I will never associate with you again.... to say the least, neither he nor most of the immeadate family will even speak to me anymore.... anger? Damn right I know what anger is and even though I don' agree with violence in anyway, I can certainly see how someone may snap in a moment of dispair.

Who are you?

Basically it makes me angry that he can't see how people can thinik differently about the witneses than he

We are our fathers sons. We can't make other people think differently, but we can make ourselves think differently. The ability to do that is the difference between a peaceful existence and a rage filled, fly off the handle, existence. The whole world looks different with a little bit different perspective. I hope that you can find that balance amid the insanity.

RollerDave

Dawg,

I am so with you here.

I find myself getting so angry over things I cannot change, and I think it's precisely because I cannot change them.

bad things happen, head gaskets blow, it costs me $2000, and I'm like, 'eh, happens' but I smack my head on a cupboard door and I'm ready to pull the kitchen cabinets off the wall.

I don't, of course because then I would have to see all my ugly dishes...

In the family dept, I have that brain dead tofu brother of mine, he refuses to even talk if there is the slightest chance of anyone disagreeing with him, also infuriating.

That's what trips to the range are for, dump a few mags of 7.62x39 into a target, you feel better.

Well, I do at any rate.

RD

journey-on

I know exactly where you are coming from, Dawg. It really wants to just make you scream sometimes because

they absolutely won't even take the time to reason it out and think for themselves. But, here's the way I look at

it now. It's like they've been playing the stockmarket. They've bought a huge amount of this company's stock

over the longhaul expecting to cash out at the end. If they sell short, they'll lose their investment. So even

though the company is practically in the trash, they're holding on to their stock hoping it will rise in value again

somehow and they will finally get their invesment back and then some. Can't risk selling off now!

Me? I'd look at the company with critical eyes, and cash in taking my losses and go on to something else.

But, if you've tied your entire "life savings" up in one company, you may not be so willing to cash out.

blueviceroy

People show anger out of fear it is th basis for all negative emotions greed, anger , malice, sarrow. Fear of what you believe being wrong causes one to hold to a belief as tightly as possible .

Insecurity of reality is why so many grab something that sounds moral and proper and authoritive and run to the end zone.

No knowledge of self and fear of facing facts about what we are, fuels most religions. Most people spend the whole life running from what they really are in the hopes of finding another truth, one that is more compromising and smaller in breadth and comprehension.

In each of us lies an abyss that is truth , most fear looking to this truth .it is unrelenting and implacable ,infinite and eternal , It's much simpler to look away and follow others as they pat each other on the back for finding God.

Happy Harvester

I can certainly see how someone may snap in a moment of dispair.

And despair is just what they want us to feel. It is very easy to relate to what you're saying.

One of my most memorable conversations with my younger sister is where she tells me if only I would "open my mind and research" ghoulhovah's word . . . talk about despair, angst, anger, grief . . . how about you open your mind, sis, and research your cult religion?

If only I would open my mind, coming from brainwashed cult members!! It would be laughable if it weren't so angering.

I am sorry for this, too. I love my family and wish I could have a relationship with them, but their choices, not mine, make it impossible to have a healthy relationship, and I'd rather not have an unhealthy one.

Theychooseto blame us for their own intellectual laziness, and that is quite a shame and quite a waste, more for them than for us, I believe; but, still painful to be shut out for simply disagreeing with such silly ideas.

Happy Harvester

That's what trips to the range are for, dump a few mags of 7.62x39 into a target, you feel better.

I'm not a gun person, RollerDave, but that sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe I could try a little boxing or archery, too, putting watchtower mags on the target.

Happy Harvester

So even
though the company is practically in the trash, they're holding on to their stock hoping it will rise in value again
somehow and they will finally get their invesment back and then some. Can't risk selling off now!

Such a good analogy, Journey On!

dawg

To read what all of you have written, to know that I'm not alone; which I was for many years before the internet came alone... it soothes the conscience and makes the day go better. Not to know that you too are suffering but to know that I'm not crazy as a bat out of hell.

I wish none of this had happened, but it did. Reminds me of Gus McCray in "Lonesome Dove" when he tells Laura, the same thing. You can't change what HAS happened, but in my mind you must make a stand against what is wrong. Not for yourself but for others that follow.

As for Danny Hazard, I can't say what he did was right... but he may have lost it just like I have a time or two. I think he, just like many of us, is simply so damn angry that he finds himself in this place. At first I was angry that I was fooled, and now I'm angry that my family is so fooled. Like many of you said, it's just so frustrating that they are so damn wrong yet won't even read anything that shows them their folly. And worse yet, what happens to the youth in my famiy if I do nothing? Anyway, just venting.

flipper

Dawg- I do feel for you buddy. My mom and dad have been in it since 1951, dad has been an elder since 1954, so it is hard to get them to change. Can't teach an old dog , new tricks so to speak. But what I have done over the years is try to appeal to their reason . My mom is more willing to listen than my dad too. But I will talk with them about the child abuse settlements , I emphasize how proud I am of my son getting a university education , which I wasn't allowed to pursue , and just generally stay on topics involving their health , what they are doing with their life ( outside of witness activities) and talk of what family is up to. They know where I stand, but what helps me keep my anger in check is looking at them like they are brainwashed, mentally diseased and blinded by an organization in which they allow themselves to be taken advantage of . I drop off little bits of information to them, but in time it will be up to them to leave it, I can't force them. Sucks, but it's the plain truth . Just gotta be patient . Until the turns on for them. For some it takes longer than others. Ya never know Dawg, something in their life drastic may happen sometime, forcing them to question their beliefs. That is what I hope for my family too. Peace out, bud, hang in there ! Mr. Flipper

Anger

Share this