WILL YOU kindly help me? (page 7)

Terry

When you were incarcerated, did any thought ever enter your mind that maybe there is no such thing as god?
What gave you the wisdom to only think on the inside rather than live in an illusion of outside thinking while in a correctional facility?
What kind of person do you speculate you would be today if your thinking at that time allowed you to see the realization that the jw's in your cong. were only living on the outside without compassion for those that were in?

The human mind protects itself in a number of ways. By not allowing you to dwell on the outside you are saved from grief. Your dreams shut off. You can only dream inside dreams. There is no outside for all practical purposes. You cannot visualize your family or friends or girlfriend at all. Weird stuff.

I never for one second thought about any kind of argument which disproved what I believed. I was a poster boy for cognitive dissonance.

What keeps me awake at nights is wondering who I would have been had I never encountered this religion! It is a very disturbing question.

GentlyFeral

Terry,

I only know of one "conversion" and I don't cover it because I am not 100% certain that it wasn't more of a homosexual seduction disguised as conversion. That was the rumor. But, we had dirty minds in there!

I think this ought to be covered - uncertainty and all!

Another question: would you consider quoting Karl Shapiro's "The Conscientious Objector"?

gently feral

Nathan Natas

T said,

However, I vowed I would not quote a single scripture or quote (except paraphrasing) JW articles. That stops the story cold.

I know what you mean, but I'm wondering if a collection of endnotes or maybe an appendix containing sources would be helpful. You just KNOW that Dubs will say, "That isn't true! We didn't say THAT!"

Then again, I have no experience in the field, and you are the captain of your ship.

Terry

However, I vowed I would not quote a single scripture or quote (except paraphrasing) JW articles. That stops the story cold.
I know what you mean, but I'm wondering if a collection of endnotes or maybe an appendix containing sources would be helpful. You just KNOW that Dubs will say, "That isn't true! We didn't say THAT!"
Then again, I have no experience in the field, and you are the captain of your ship.

I have been back and forth with myself on just the very issues you raise.

What I've concluded is this. The very best I can hope to achieve is to raise questions in an honest person's mind and let them carry on investigating the particulars for themselves.

Most books critical of JW's take on too much territory. You can't push people off a cliff with brute force. And you have to cushion the landing or you kill them and their interest.

I don't want my book to resemble a screed or a technical rebuttal. It is just a story that contains true things.

To Kill a Mockingbird is so effective because it isn't a rant about racial equality or prejudice. It is the personal story of a family.

The goodness of the characters persuades more than the arguments in court.

Atticus loses the case and his client dies, after all.

My book aims at a To Kill a Mockingbird persuasion. I can't aim any higher.

HappyDad

Terry,

I just came upon your thread and I must say that I wish you well with your book. Not having the "smarts" or the mindset to get into giving advice, all I can say is that I'm and avid reader and can't wait until you publish and I can get a copy.

What you said here is something I sometimes wonder. But I can also add the word "what" after "who". Who knows, I might have pursued another line of work that I could really get into, instead of just getting by because the "end" was coming soon.

What keeps me awake at nights is wondering who I would have been had I never encountered this religion! It is a very disturbing question.

Best wishes,

HappyDad

bebu

I am glad to learn of your intention to write in the fashion of To Kill A Mockingbird. I think that is going to be the best way to tell this story!!

And I am also very interested in reading your book, whenver and however it comes out.

Please don't end the book like Castaway, where the audience must guess what major choice the character will make.

What keeps me awake at nights is wondering who I would have been had I never encountered this religion! It is a very disturbing question.

Recently I have read that personality doesn't change that much as one ages. It is fairly established by the age of 30, and barring mental disorders or severe trauma it doesn't have huge upsets. "Who" you are right now is most probably not too far off from the essence of the person you would have been without the JW detour. If you were poor or filthy rich, you would still have the same personality beneath all your choices and outlooks. In your case, I believe you have come to see yourself more clearly through all this upset than you ever could have if you had had a "normal" life. Even with all the questions!

bebu

Nathan Natas

It is fairly established by the age of 30,

But in T's case, as with others in his position, the prison experience came at about age 19. So it may have had an altering effect. Certainly it changed the "nurture" aspect of his life, if not the "nature."

MsMcDucket

I'm in my can't read mode; so if others have covered this, I'm sorry. The utter frustration of it all, the futility, the desperation, the sense of not having an out would of drove me crazy! You hadn't committed a sin in God's eye; but in the government's eyes. You could not get out of going to the War on your own merit--just because YOU didn't think it was right--that's pretty sad. Why didn't "The Society" help guys like you get up to Canada? I guess they felt you had to pay Caesar's things to Caesar! I don't understand that part. They wanted you to resist induction; but not help you to escape inprisonment! Something's wrong with that picture!

They will come stand guard at a hospital where someone is being asked to take blood; but didn't do the same thing in your case! Your life, mental health, physical well-being, and all were at stake! How come they didn't feel the same way about a teenager refusing induction as they did about a teenager refusing blood?

And why do you have to be affiliated with a church and considered a "minister" to not have to go to war? That's not right either!

nvrgnbk

Did you ever privately ask Jehovah "What gives?"?

JWdaughter

Terry, you have long been one of my favorite posters on the board. You don't mince words. I like that. I am the mince queen! Hate that about myself.

Have you checked w/an entertainment lawyer on the real names in your book? I think you might have an issue there.The reason why in the beginning of books they say "any resemblance to actual persons, places or events is entirely coincidental" is to protect folks legally. Yours are obviously not just coincidental resemblances. If it were NON FICTION, stating true names would be one thing since you are standing behind your statements about their actions and words. But putting a person who is a correctional officer, in a particular prison, with a specific name and time frame-I think you have trouble. Fictionalize every name or do a memoir and tell it like it was. I favor the Memoir approach rather than the fictional, but of course that is your call.

I know it is hard, hard facing who you were and how you felt and what happened to you. Truth is compelling. Based on the truth is just teasing. The reason why in the beginning of books they say "any resemblance to actual persons, places or events is entirely coincidental" is to protect folks legally. Yours are obviously not just coincidental resemblances.

I had no idea until this post (or it got lost in all the thousands of posts I have read) of your experience. I can't wait to read the book! I hope you are able to find a publisher that will promote it. With all the funky JW things happening, it might be more likely to happen with a timely and compelling story of how the WT treats its sales personnel. How the congregation treats those who put it on the line for the vindication of their organizational name.

Being a true believer then, and being who you are now. . .do you think you would have otherwise gone into the military then without a fight? If you had not been indoctrinated at the time?

Many say the bible is compelling because it shows faithful men-warts and all. That makes it believable and compelling for many. I really think your story would be more compelling as your story. You are a new and different man now than that boy who experience those things. The experience changed you, life changed you, age changed you. The person you were then is someone else, but he is just as real whether you admit to him or not. And you don't have to address things that you can't address or won't touch with a ten foot pole. The only business of yours that is our business is that which you choose to share with the readers.

I am interested in day to day details of a person in prison who really is 'innocent', that is-not guilty of a crime against persons or propterty, not a 'bad guy'. (leaving out the politics/morals of CO) How did you feel about the other inmates? Did you learn things about yourself or others that made you better, worse, kinder, less so? Did it affect the way you raised your children or treated your wife? Do you have any kind of PT stress syndrome? Has it affected your ability to be gainfully employed?

Do you need a proofreader/second eye?? I am a reader and a continuity critic(I hate when writers forget details and contradict themselves in an otherwise good book)

WILL YOU kindly help me?

Share this