by James Mixon 54 Replies latest jw experiences
mention of wembley '69.
a dreadful experience. i was there. i remember Ron Drage walking through the jam-packed corridors bellowing into a megaphone telling everyone to keep to one side. it never stopped raining. i vowed i would never attend a big assembly again. i never did.
my daughter was born in '71. a few weeks before--after a lot of soul-searching--i decided to make my mind up over the blood issue. and resigned.
my daughter has shunned me since '84. she has 4 girls of her own now. they live less than a mile from me. ive never met them
I was born in 1963. I was never baptized.
My parents weren't 'dedicated' when I was a child so we didn't have the full brunt of what it must have been like for many who were. My Mom smoked and used that as an excuse not to get baptized or go out in Field Serve-Us. Back then Bible Studies were conducted in our home. We did not go to the Hall except on Memorial night and I only remember going once or twice.
I was raised on the doctrines and life was a struggle, due to my logical, reasoning, intellectually honest mind. I remember being told that the end was so close I wouldn't grow old in this system of things, that I wouldn't even graduate high school, and I would definitely not need a job/career. I had a hard time swallowing this story as I got older. Here I am, almost 52 years old, and am now closer to the end of my career than the beginning of it. And yes, I have grown older.
I remember having to justify to my parents every time I wanted to do something.
The mantra from my Mom was: "What do you want to do that for?"
I couldn't wait to graduate high school and move away to go to college. I had to get out of the house and away from the JW toxic mind-set.
Despite my Mom's feeble attempts to dissuade us, my younger bro and I did go to 'higher learning'.
None of us children are JWs nor are any of my parent's grand children. So much for the JW legacy in my immediate family.
Other members of my family (on my Mom's side) are not so lucky.
I was raised as a witness in the 60's and 70's and to tell you the truth it was a hell of a lot of fun. We went camping in big groups in my Kingdom Hall 3 or 4 times a year. White water rafting. We had Sunday meetings outside at peoples homes (if they had big yards). There were big get togethers where they invited 3 or 4 congregations. As a child it was a lot of fun.
As a teenager it became much more difficult, because you had your heart pulling you one way and your head the other way. If I could go back I would do everything differently now. But that is true with just about everybody once they live life and see what worked and what did not work. I think it basically comes down to this: were you parents nuts? or did they have their head's on straight? I made my own bed. They were my decisions. I have nobody to been for my successes or failures but me. I wish I had a time machine. But I don't.
My father always told us kids the following: It's your life. Use your conscience and do what you think is right. I never felt I had a gun pointed to my head.
