Stumbled across this looking for an old Nickolas thread. Bumping for two reasons...
One...agreed the board is that much more interesting with Cheez and Nickolas around. But I can see what Cheez is up to on Facebook, but not so with Nickolas. He is one of my favorite posters and think his presence would help a certain 60+ page thread that's going nowhere. Hopefully he'll grace us with his presence again.
Second reason was to bring attention to this little nugget by Cheez for anyone else that might find it enlightening or helpful:
I swallowed my pride when I realized my parents are almost in their 70s and they gave up the will to think for themselves when they were kids. If I look at it like a disease of the mind, it helps. It's just not possible for them to be empathetic with me but I can be empathetic with them.
For myself this is one of the things I've struggled to come to terms with. I've had very little contact with my JW parents for about 5 years now, but as they are approaching their 70s too, I wonder how much time they (and myself) have left. Pretty sure I'll have regrets if "that" phone call comes tomorrow that one of them has passed.
Swallowing your pride is almost always great advice, but in this case, it may be paramount. Also, to realize that there is really nothing you can do to change them, but you can control the person you are. After all, that's all that really matters.
And I'm stealing this idea: "If I look at it like a disease of the mind, it helps." (Cheez was way ahead of the GB on that "mentally diseased" thing)