There is something in the deserts near my old home in Tucson, Arizona that makes me think about the past, present, and future of ex-JWs; it is the spadefoot toad.
The Arizona spadefoot toad is a miracle in biological adaptation and survival. To live in this hot dry desert, the toad needs water, without which its cells would soon die. Even worse, it needs puddles of water in which to reproduce. Yet many months go by in the Arizona desert before any rains come along. Sometimes, there is a dry spell and it can be years before rains come along. How does this toad hold on to life?
How does this little toad survive? When times are tough it saves its energy. When the desert grows dry and the temperature climbs, the toad burrows under the sand and goes into hibernation, dramatically slowing its metabolic rate and conserving every bit of moisture in its flesh. The toad remains motionless there, month after month, year after year if necessary. If the toad came out of hibernation too soon and popped back into the surface, it would use up the water and nutrients to see it through a few months but this optimism would prove deadly, and even if it dug back into the sand to try to hibernate again, its emergency reserve of water would be gone and it would die.
A sudden burst of rain brings the toad back from hibernation. When the rare downpour soaks the desert, hormones flood through the toad and it is jolted awake. It is seized with enthusiasm and pops up to the surface, searching madly for a puddle. Within a short period of time, any puddles are filled with a hotbed of social actions. Males and females fling themselves into a sexual orgy. Within 24 hours, this results in a huge number of squirming tadpoles.
The spadefoot toad is following a basic biological law. That same principle makes the rapid rise in good fortune among humans a dangerous thing. Nature shuts down an organisms expenditure of energy when resources vanish, but she unleashes energy when fresh resources arrive. The deprived have to endure their fate but when good fortune comes along it lifts the window of hopelessness, and biology gives these lucky ones a burst of manic zeal.
You cant help but notice the parallels with what has happened in the ex-JW world with these Arizona toads. For years on end, unlucky victims of the Watchtower Society had to suffer their losses in silence and mostly alone. There were some who bravely battled against the hot wrath of the Borg, but often their struggle just depleted their resources and made their life a demanding experience in fighting impossible odds.
Along comes the world wide web and the explosive growth of ex-JW online communities and at last the water is beginning to trickle down and wake up the sleeping victims, to energize them. The increased popularity of apostofests (that is ex-JW group meets for any of you newbies reading this) is similar to the hotbed of social interactivity the toads are eagerly searching for. The resulting encouragement and association from the social interactivity attracts even more ex-JW victims. Instead of the meetings becoming a rare thing, they become commonplace. More online ex-JW communities spring up. Ex-JWs become much more vocal (hear us croak fuck you Watchtower Society) as many spread the word about the abusive policies of the Borg and the truth about the truth. All this interactivity and action results in some opening their eyes and escaping from the Borg.
But does it stop here? Have we seen the final WooHoo in what we collectively can accomplish? Is the exposure of the WTS hypocrisy with the UN membership and their sheltering of pedophiles and sexual abusers in their congregations as good as it gets? Will we be content in croaking about their dangerous blood policy, how their shunning ruins lives, or how they are collecting hundreds of millions of dollars from their victims? Or, will we become even more proactive? Will Silent Lambs sue the Borg for millions in damages? Will ex-JWs find a way not only to humble this evil monster but also to deflate its millions upon millions of dollars in resources? Will we be successful in encouraging and in house Coop that will fundamentally change the nature of this beast for good?
I say the future holds some interesting times. Maybe we havent seen anything yet!
What do you think?
Skipper
Edited by - mindchild on 14 August 2002 12:33:17