I always knew as a kid TT wasnt for me. I did not know TTATT but how could something thats supposed to be warm, loving and beneficial feel so wrong? The light went on when I happened to be watching some chat show that had a family of white supremecists on. By all appearances this family were well mannered and looked like the model family unit. The daughter was aged 9 or ten and came out with a statment that left me speechless. She was asked how she interacted with black children her age. She said that they would not associate with them but would politely refuse any social interaction with them, they would remain seperate. The audiance gasped at this revelation. It seemed so wrong to me that a child this age was tought this kind of philosophy.
But hang on a minute! was I not using the exact same rhetoric in my life as a young witness along with many thousands of witness children around the world?
I mentioned this programme to an elder on the ministry a few days later and he said he was appalled that such a young kid as this example could hold such a view, wasnt the world advancing from bad to worse! I didnt have the courage to point out the obvious!
The next lightbulb moment happened years later involving a serial abuser in our hall. I do not yet have the courage to write about that awful episode... soon.