This story goes back 2 years, when my girlfriend and I traveled to my homecountry in South America to spend the summer visiting my family and friends. Although I was still attending the meetings back then, I had already been inactive for a while. The developments since that visit have been slow but dramatic, and my perception of the people inside the organization has changed greatly. Interestingly, I never went back to the KH once I arrived to the US, and all this time I had not had any real interaction with the witnesses. Not until an hour ago.
But before I tell that story, I have to set up the context of the last couple of weeks. My girlfriend , who works for a human rights NGO, was invited to participate in a program that helps refugees locally. She gladly accepted because she was really excited to work with people from other countries who have moved to the US, especially because she misses having direct contact with real people in need. Since May, when I came to visit her for the summer, she told me that she was being assigned a elderly couple from a latinamerican country, which was ideal given that she speaks perfect Spanish. The great day finally came 2 weeks ago, when she traveled more than an hour to their house. When she got back home, she smiled and offered me an invitation to the international convention in DC that the old lady had given her in return for their help with filling paper-work for foodstamps, an English lesson, and even groceries. 'Wow, this is so ironic!' she said, and kept on telling me how insistently they preached to her about their faith and their organization.
'Why' you ask? When we visited my family 2 years ago, we had a great time. However, my dad and mom, as the good witnesses they are, treated her as the worldly person she is. Enough to say that they interacted only twice during 3 months: when we arrived and I introduced her, and the night before we flew back to the US. Although I had explained that they do not really hold anything personal against her, it became impossible to justify the fact that they are forced to treat her with some distance because they do not want to give the impression they are supporting our relationship. Hard to swallow, as you can imagine, but she accepted the situation.
This is when everything becomes ironic. Shortly after we came back, I suffered an accident and fractured my left arm while visiting my girlfriend's family in Texas. After surgery, and I had to stop my classes for a semester, time during which I was overwhelmed not only by pain, but also by the fact that I was fighting with the insurance company to pay the medical bills. During all this time, my girlfriend's family took care of my physical needs, and became a source a great moral support. Is it not ironic that such a Catholic family was treating me like one of them, especially after what my family did to her?
Fast-forward to earlier today. We spent the most amazing day with some friends in the beach. When we got back, she was hungry and we headed towards a restaurant nearby in downtown DC. The place was packed with witnesses who are attending the convention this weekend. I think there were at least 20 witnesses, and some 6 other worldly people, including us. After ordering our food and seating next to the group of witnesses, we realized there was a lady who was fainting over her food a couple of tables from ours. We waited a bit to make sure that she was not sleeping, and when the situation became unconfortable, we asked her if she needed help. She was apparently having an Diabetes episode, although we could not really understand what she was saying. Just about the same time, all the witnesses started leaving the place. A couple of them came to inquire about the lady who was obviously having a hard time, but the rest of the group kept just stearing at us through the window. After a group of paramedics arrived to attend the lady, we went back to our table, and saw that the witness in the next table had forgotten his wallet, so I picked it up and reached to the last guy of the group leaving the place. 'You are good people' he said. 'If you only knew!!!' I screamed inside. He continued: 'We are Jehovah's Witness, and we are having a convention here this week'. We had a short conversation about where we and they were from. When it was time to say good-bye, he hesitantly said 'well, do you know this website?' while showing us a badge with the JW.org logo. We said 'yes, we know about you guys'.
So many things to reflect upon came back to me at once. First of all, I was shocked that the group of witness did not offer to help this poor lady. Although I cannot say for sure that they had seen her, I can only explain their ineffectiveness if I assume they did not offer help first because sometimes we all are afraid of reaching out to people, especially when it is difficult to discern whether the situation is urgent. Yet, I find it unacceptable that the witness came to help only after other people had taken action. I can actually imagine a group of guys watching a Football game reacting faster.
I am just happy that I made my first interaction with a group of witness a 'witnessing' opportunity. They guy who talked to us recognized that there are 'good people' outside 'Jehovah's organization'. I am sure he means well and is a nice person, but it is a pity that instead of being working for human-rights defense, helping the poor in his area, and taking care of the sick without even asking if they believe in Jehovah, he is reduced to invite people to visit a website. Inside, he knows the JW.org is a joke. The tone of his voice, and the way he invited us to check it out gives him away. They will always say they do social and community work, yet I know my family is not unique among the witnesses. They are a microcosmos of what happen inside this cult, and I have observed how they cannot even show the normal love and respect that humans naturally feel for one another, just because the WT society tells them so.
For now, the plan is for me to visit the elderly couple before I leave town later this month. Perhaps I will have another chance to 'witness'.