Awhile back I posted about my wife's father passing away. Despite her not attending meetings or even the memorial in quite some time, she and her father were always very close. He understood her condition and did not fault her for not attending or not being active. His passing hit her with a great deal of pain and loss and it shows in her every action. She cried a lot right after he died and even now after a few months is still quite close to that threshhold of pain and will cry now and again.
This afternoon we again discussed the shabby way his memorial service was handled. Of course it was a textbook example of a jw memorial service and that is exactly her point. Precious little was said about the man and it more resembled an infomercial for the wt. Most of her family are very much involved with the organization and quite zealous. They claim to be Christian but the fact of the matter is that as immersed in their so-called truth as they are, the basics of Christian faith and human decency has not penetrated to any depth of their souls.
Case in point...
At the memorial service for her dad my wife was visibly shaken. She was very upset and sad and she cried openly. A few people seemed to be put off by her unseemly display. (sigh) Our Agnostic son and I comforted her as did her brother but most people seemed to make an effort to ignore her. Her sister in law had earlier come up to me to shake my hand and offer condolences and behaved like an automaton. I am not even kidding a tiny bit. I never saw a more robotic and unfeeling gesture in all my 51 years on this big blue ball.
When my wife went to look at the photo of her dad in the back of the hall she cried again. Her brother held her and his wife went to her very robitically and asked her, "Don't you believe in the resurrection? Don't you have faith in Jehovah? Why are you making a scene here?" (Churlish crone) My wife looked at her and said, "Is my father being resurrected TODAY? TOMORROW? Get away from me you blankety blank blank blank..." Then came over to me as I wheeled myself over to her.
Between that idiot's way of trying to encourage her and her step mom's fake efforts to offer her support, (Asked permission to count time and study with my wife), my wife is actually becoming more vocal about the things she sees that are and have always been wrong with the wt. In a way her dad's passing has been very freeing to her. But at the same time, I see her falling into a depression because of her dad being gone and what she held close to her as faith is now coming apart at the seams. I am doing my best to keep her going and encourage her to be more positive and optimistic. Does anyone have any ideas on some activities a nearly bedridden gal can take up to help her to overcome her sadness?
Thanks for listening....
TOTH-Tired of the Hypocrisy