I am sending this letter to another website, but would like to have you guys comment on it first. All suggestions and comments are welcome.
Letter from (and to) a disillusioned young Witness
Dear friend:
You and I have arrived at the painful conclusion that our parents didn’t know better; that they did (now we know it) what they considered was the best thing; and, in a way, we should not blame them for that. When we opened our eyes to life, we were already here. This is our de facto reality, but that reality is light-years away from that of our progenitors. They thought it was the Truth, but we now know it is not, and that religion and truth may well be two mutually exclusive terms. Now, what do we do with that conviction? Should we keep quiet, go along with the flow in which we found ourselves before becoming reasoning adults? Should we live under the umbrella of what, by all moral standards, we perceive to be a lie? How many times have we waged an unbearable diatribe against Catholics when we see those quasi-irrational inscriptions on their doors stating that their parents belonged to that religion and, therefore, they will die Catholics as their ancestors did? And we attack such reasoning under the perfectly valid grounds that the search for truth (which may not be necessarily The Truth) must transcend tradition; that it is not a matter of what others did, and that each individual is responsible for his own fate.
How can we, in good conscience, continue to be faithful to an organization that has proven to be unfaithful to the ethical or moral standards it imposes on others? How can we keep supporting the draconian practice of rejecting blood transfusion, and hence contemplate how our loved ones, including innocent and uncomplaining children, die for a policy about which the very Governing Body that implements it is not completely sure? Frankly, that would be too much to ask. This is the 21 st century, for Christ’s sake! To use an illustration (yes, we admit the Theocratic School was not a complete waste of time) let’s say that although it is true that we do not despise those who in ancient times ignored the existence of microorganisms and attributed certain illnesses to now laughable causes, it is also the case that today we know better and, therefore, we proceed to take the essential sanitary precautions. Similarly, now that we have realized the Watch Tower and its clandestine Governing Body are, from all logical perspectives, a spiritual dictatorship, and taking into consideration that a deep reform is absolutely impossible, we have no option but to correct the error or lack of good judgment on the part of our parents when they decided to enter the sect.
We clearly understand that the journey (or the escape, we must say) will not be easy. Everything has been prepared to dissuade us from or even punish us for taking our destiny into our own hands. However, it is inevitable to face life with courage and an essential measure of self-respect. The following verses, by the Cuban poet Heberto Padilla, clearly illustrate how we feel in this arduous moment.
Poetics
Tell the truth.
Tell, at least, your truth.
And then
Let anything happen:
Let them rip your beloved page,
Let them knock down your door with stones,
Let the people
Crowd before your body
As if you were
A prodigy or a dead man.
Although, to be honest, not every aspect of our lives as Witnesses is regrettable, because, in general, there is a set of moral principles that may be of certain value, the desperate and emphatic effort to keep us separate from the world has, no doubt, deprived us from the marvelous things that such world does offer: the illuminating influence of the natural sciences; the opportunity to develop personal talents in the arts, sports, the world of ideas or intellectual exploration, a healthful relationship with a variety of decent human beings that until now we have regarded as mere worldly people. Again, the journey will be challenging, but it is about time that we face life as normal individuals, not as the sectarian religious-centric megalomaniac (and ironically fearful) fellows we have been taught to be.
With much sincerity,
H.W.