Even when I was still in, this change in protocol stuck out to me as an obvious means of protecting the Society from legal liability for the actions of any current or former JWs. Of course it hadn't occurred to me just how big a deal that issue really was, except the fact that they have so many rules that are designed for a similar purpose--to protect the WTS from liability.
I wonder what it sounded like, hearing my name from the platform. I didn't go that night. My mom actually had the nerve to show up for it; why she would want to be there is beyond me, really, I would think she would've been embarrassed. But I guess it's the opportunity to try to make up for my apparent 'mistakes', I don't know.
That Yearbook quote is an example of how tissue paper-thin friendships really are in the org. If someone was asking about the convention, why does that become a reason to lay into them about something they did? One would think that would be a good opportunity to encourage someone, not to shun and condemn them without even knowing what's in their heart.
I think the thing they don't get is that what they do actually drives people farther away from God. Who would willingly tolerate being treated this way without going into depression or else saying to heck with it? It reaches a point where it becomes hard to imagine adults behaving this way towards each other.
Calls to mind the little sit-down I had with the elders, who showed up uninvited one Saturday. I told them that I felt the judicial committee process showed me a side of the organization I had never seen before, and that the committee really soured me on ever coming back. The elder's only response was that I needed to 'accept the discipline'. I guess it didn't occur to him--or matter, really--that it was handled in a very unloving and manipulative way.
Well...nothing like old memories. I guess what undercover said. Effing cult.
--sd-7
