I would think a single sincere phone call would be so much more meaningful.
Gifts from my old hall..
by Garrett 22 Replies latest jw friends
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zeb
something has been said. so a lot of folks have got together (jw cant do a thing of their own) and put the package together. -
Village Idiot
My curiosity would have prompted me to read the letters. What happened is out of the ordinary for Witnesses unless somebody really cared. They may not have been there right after your breaking off relationship with them but it seems that they still cared otherwise they would not have bothered. -
rebel8
It's scary how certain things can make the memories and dread come flooding back in an instant. -
Gone and forgotten
Garrett...that is really impressive that they went to those lengths. When I dislocate my knee...the day before it was announced that I was a pioneer...not one person in my hall could be bothered to call and checkup on why I wasn't at the meeting on that most important night! It was only when I showed up at the hall for field service with the CO, on crutches, in the middle of the winter, did anyone even pay attention. They didn't even bother to check up or offer help after the CO left. While he was there, he made sure that I was looked after, at least in service. I lived in a fairly rural territory at the time, so the most I was able to do was phone calls and letter writing. So that they went to that extant, really showed a loving attempt...now, that being said...whatever action you took, or didn't take, needed to be what you were comfortable with. If opening the letters and reading them would have caused you to return to the Borg...then they were a danger to you and you did the right thing...first and foremost in this situation, you need to protect yourself.
I currently have a sister that occasionally will send me a Facebook message that she is planning on making a trip to see me. It's been at least 3 years since I was at a meeting, and I live about 50 away from her now. It was only when she found out that I was diagnosed with cancer and am now recovering from those treatments, that she started contacting me. Maybe there has been some direction to reach out to those of us that have disappeared if possible...or maybe they are just moved by their inherent human kindness. I am not encouraging this visit, nor am I holding my breath that it will take place...the only possible way it will happen is when an assembly happens...the Assembly Hall is about the 1/2 way point. So I just hope that she is too busy with work and pioneering, and that her husband is too busy with work, pioneering and elder responsibilities to remember me.
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Perry
You are in control of your future. You are not a victim.
I used to notice how a lot of JW's treat people like victims who really aren't. This is just a control technique. Healthy people treat others with respect, even if they disagree with them; recognizing that everyone has a God-given free will to choose.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
I don't know why I'm posting this, but I feel like I needed to write it out somewhere. It's really rough...
Yes, it's sad and frustrating to look back at these people and wish that they would wake up, leave the cult, and get on with life like you have, and keep them as friends in a post-JW relationship... but they don't get it, they don't wake up. Instead, they want to seduce you back into the ignorance and slavery of being a WT Corp stooge.
And you're posting this here because we've been through a lot of the same stuff. Hang in there!
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kairos
There's no way I could resist to at least start reading the cards.
I think this is a very rare occurrence.
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OnTheWayOut
Man. That must have been tough. If it helps with your decision to discard the cards, they only wrote them after some jerkwad elder (or higher up) decided it was okay to contact you. They would have left you alone if not for that. It is part of their spiritual warfare. People must have really liked you to pull this on you. -
stuckinarut2
Unconditional friendship, or Conditional friendship?
Unity or Uniformity?
Genuine love for you, or Love for the organisation?
A desire to see you happy, or a desire to guilt you back into a controlling cult relationship?
Hmmmm.... Think about the people we really call our close friends in the congregations.... Can you really express your honest thoughts , feelings or actions, and be treated with respect, or does everything have to be word perfect in agreement with 7 men in Brooklyn?
Are there consequences for being "different"?
