So this morning I decided to go see if I could find some interesting used books for my flight in a couple of weeks and I saw a JW from one of the local congregations...she didn't see me, even though she was directly behind me looking at the same section of books. I'm not exactly easy to miss, but I digress.
She was on the phone and was talking about a few things that I found incredibly interesting. Firstly, I guess a woman that just got baptized last year is absolutely fed up with the org! She gets no encouragement, no help, no nothing and she said to this sister that she's "had it & don't want to be at that Kingdom Hall anymore". I was very happy to hear that she's sick of things. I really liked this woman...she's very sweet and down to earth. But, she's experienced the classic JW bait and switch. They're nice and loving and love bomb you when you're studying. As soon as you get baptized, they're off to love on the next recruit and you're left to fend for yourself. Even the pioneer sister who studied with this woman has left her high and dry (which, I could have predicted because she's the type who will be all helpful and available for her students for anything...until they're no longer students...I seriously think she's just trying to add to her baptism score). But she's had it and I think (from what I overheard) that she stopped going.
The sister who was talking on the phone also said that the congregations are clique-y and that her son has no friends anymore since the congregations split and his only friend was made to go to a different hall. And the young sisters are vicious to her daughter! And her daughter got baptized very young (I think she was 11 or 12) and while she was a zealous little kid, she's getting sick of it and so is the mother. From what this sister was saying, it seems that the area congregations are all experiencing an exodus of people who are just fed up. Quite often I heard her say "REALLY? See, I thought it was just MY hall!!".
It's noteworthy that the two women I'm talking about are both single mothers who are in a racial minority in this area. In other words, prime victims for uppity JW's who are white and have their whole family in the "Truth". I feel sad that they have to feel the same level of shunning that I did over the years I was in (from infancy). But, I took this as a very positive sign that some people are waking up...maybe not fully, but they're seeing things they don't like and are leaving because of it. All it takes is that first nudge. If I had their addresses, I'd send them both a letter with some information about the organization, but I don't know if they're ready for that.
