by ballistic 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Most of my old mates are dead. Accidents, cancer, heart disease, armageddon
The few kids I could get back in touch with are never JWs and live far away from here.
But ... I do have a great mate from wayback who lives close by (deliberately) and we (and our families) have a ball together through thick and thin.
I take as one of my core 'beliefs' that growth is painfu ut necessary if we want to live meaningful lives especially as we go through our adult years. Sometimes we leave our friends behind - or they leave us - because our rates of change differ. It is not tragic but it is sad. It is not obsessing about the past but part of normal reminiscing. As we grow, we become closer to some people and more distant from others. Some people are honestly threatened personally by our progress. Our progress exposes their stagnation.
I looked up a what I thought was free thinking jw from my time back in Albuquerque. He was funny and questioned just about everything. I had hoped he was out but found out he moved to tucson and is an elder now. I didn't bother to call.
I had a few good friends. Some of them I had grown up with, others I just got on really well. I do miss them, but then I remember, they are shunning me, not me them.
I had many who were good to me, they were good people, they were conditional friends of course, not their fault, mind control.
I don't know why, but I really don't miss them. (?)
There is no void because they are gone, maybe because the true friends I still have, most of whom were never JW's, are still my friends, and I make new friends all the time.
Yeah, I had that friend. We were best friends as kids, young teens
Then I didn't see her for years because I left the witnesses and didn't want to have 'that conversation' with her...I didn't want to say goodbye, so I didn't say anything.
Then one day I was in her town and dropped by to see her... She was very kind and we had a nice visit. She had a picture hanging on the wall behind her couch that was the same picture I had hanging on the wall behind my couch back home. Turns out there were 5 or six things around her house that were the exact same things I had in my home. Just little things, but it was kind of weird to see so many of my things in someone else's house! There were many things that she was doing in her life that were the same things I was doing in my life...
we still had everything in common... except religion. We should have been, and should still be, best friends, like sisters.
But that was the last time I saw her...I guess it was over 20 years ago...
Thank you for all the comments, "Can't Leave", I know it's hard when you are DF as I was, and the shunning, but my point was just to treasure friendships of old and our memories. Some of those people are dead. We also once shunned people too. I know I did, did you?
I did get a couple of cards from people when I was shunned hoping for my return. Although returning was farthest from my intentions, I am still touched by the thought of friends writing which you wont find in any elders manual.
Don't be sad lisaBObeesa I think we all loose people in life, whether we have been JWs or not. Some people of the world seem to move through social groups like a knife through hot butter. But I like to r eminisce occasionaly.
I always get the remembering bug around the holidays. It usually makes me very sad. It's a bummer to be judged harshly by people that you really loved. I wouldn't do that to a dog. I'm feeling a little down. I was in a cross walk and got hit by a van. 9 days in a hospital several weeks b4 I could fly home (broken elbow, broken ribs, collapsed lung, ruptured spleen) now waiting for arm to heel to go back to work. big snow storm. electricity out 4 3 days. House is a mess. Hate that the borg stole most of my good years. OK pity party over. I'll clean the house now.
geez dog, that's rough. i hope you heal up soon.
