In a way, being a Dub changed me for the worse, and I'm still getting over it, but in another way, it gave me the time and patience to learn many new things, to read a lot of books (that was all I could do really, since I wasn't supposed to hang out with 'wordly' friends). I would be a far worse off person than I am now - I would probably be a stupid gardener or something
But they took far more than they gave, that's for sure.
I did learn how to sleep with my eyes open in the spectacularly boring meetings and assemblies (God I hated assemblies). A nifty skill, that one! My logical abilities were also fine-tuned from arguing with people in the field about religion by the time I left.
I'm just trying to look on the bright side, I guess. The reality was that I was isolated, internalized, and never truly accepted as a friend by any single Dub.
That, plus the fact that I looked like a complete DORK until a couple of years back when I finally learnt how to pay attention to my appearance, didn't help much while I was 'IN'.
I wish I could save some people, but I know that by now the brainwashing has really taken and they are lost to reason.
JBean - There are many people in my ex-KH who are much better looking than I could ever hope to be, and are still there. I don't know about the geek thing - I feel that it doesn't matter how people look, it is still easy for them to be ensnared by the seductive siren song of guilt.
"I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious sensibilities of anyone." -- Charles Darwin, The Origin Of Species, 1869.
