Was everyone surprised by how nice worldly people can be?

by Inisc 35 Replies latest jw friends

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  Band on the Run

  With few exceptions, I always found worldly people nicer. My mom exposed me to a lot of the world for a Witness. School and a special preschool were encouraged. She had been expelled from high school b/c of flag salute and was determined that we finish. Of course, finishing meant high school but she offered no opposition when my teachers implored me to go to college.

  It may have been our local KH was not very social. We were excluded b/c of race. I don't think they knew what to make of us. We were present yet we did not belong. Growing up in a urban area, I was exposed to many different people from school. I sought out other "rejects," such as Jewish and black people.

  More than any doctrine, their overreaching and the lack of love at my KH reinforced my escape.
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  aquagirl

  I know exactly what you mean! My mum,lives with me now,and she is astounded at how sweet and kind my "worldly" friends are.Sadly tho,its kind of making her rethink her whole life,but better late than never,I guess.My dad went to his grave believing he had "brothers' everywhere,and that he could go "in the middle of the night" to any of them and they would help him if needed.He didnt realize that that is the way many many people are,more nonwitness than witness,in my opinion.He got ripped off so many times by "brothers",he just refused to see.Sad..But,oh well,we all get one life,and get to live it the way WE choose,right?
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  Heartofaboy

  You are right there Jo-Jo, there are some horrible folk in the 'world' & we are wary of them.

  But the borg taught us to push our 'worldy' friends away.........They actually had a demonstration at a circuit assembly showing us how to do it to our school friends & that is just what my siblings did to some very good friends!

  Boy do they now look back with regret now they are adults.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I've found it interesting how I can take non-JWs at their word, to a great extent. JWs could be so fake since they were supposed to be "brothers" and "sisters" to everybody in the KH. Behind the scenes, gossip and judgmentalism ran wild. And we were taught to love-bomb people we didn't really like at all. In bethel it happened plenty of times that others would be nice when they wanted something, then trash you behind your back. WT has cultivated a culture of judgmentalism and superficiality. Numbers on a card are more important than heartfelt good deeds. And if the numbers don't measure up, you know you're gonna get trashed by the BoE and CO.

  After Bethel, as I came back in contact with non-JWs, I was stand-offish since I was accustomed to people being jerks. I found that if non-JWs were nice, it was rare that they were being phoney. Yeah, there were a few con artists along the way, but fewer of them than the jerks in bethel or the KH. If 'worldly' people were nice to me to my face, I found that they were nice to me behind my back. Boy was that different than WT world.
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  Inisc

  I've also found that non jws often care more for their fellow man, and feel more. Like you know when you see those TV appeals for charities like children in need or comic releif, 'worldly' people see that and cry and donate money. JWS see it and say how bad satans world is and thank goodness Jehovah is gonna fix it soon!

  The longer it seems your out, the more people you meet and get the chance to see that people are basically good.

  Its heart warming to see, pleasantly surprising and then shocking when you meet people who are actually nicer than jws.

  I have come to love not seeing the whole world as completely evil. I hate that I was told it was.
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  wha happened?

  I had one, (of amny), incidents of JW's calling my family liars. There was a sister who was looking for property in our territory. It so happened that my Uncle, (a non JW), was as well. My Uncle really is a super nice person and very generous.

  Well the sister found a house and was preparing an offer. My Uncle stumbled upon the same house, but passed on the offer when he discovered there was some work done on the property without a permit. Someone had converted the garage into an apt. When my Uncle was telling me about the house, where it was, etc etc, I recognized it as the same house the sister was making an offer on. So I passed the info to the sister. When the sister questioned the agent about the work, the agent told her it wasn't true, and that my Uncle said he was going to make an offer on the property. Well we knew what the agent was doing. Well the sister tells her friends that my Uncle is a dirtbag for trying to steal her house from underneath her. I get upset and call her on it. The only question she had was whether or not my Uncle was a JW. I said "no". She just smirked and walked away. Well I didn't let her get away with that and I let her have it. Then the brothers got involved and I was acussed of making an accusation against a sister that were unfuonded. I refused to apologize, and even the brother I was studying with got on me. I just said I was right, my Uncle was trying to help her, so she should apologize to me.

  Well guess what. She buys the property and the city makes her tear down the garage. She sheepishly tells me about it. All I would say to her was, "so my Uncle was right?" I repeated several times but no apology. I should have taken that as a hint and never been baptized