So I'm having a get together for my family. The "pit" is going, the suds are flowing, and the sound from the TV permeates the air. I look over and I notice that I've carelessly left my laptop in a place where it's easily accessible. My JW (or so I thought) brother-in-law has it open and is wirelessly surfing the web. Now I'm thinking, I have all these anti-WT sites bookmarked, favorited, and loaded still in the address bar and I know he's looking them over. He exclaims to his hardcore, died-in-the-wool JW wife "Look, this site had Charles Taze Russells last will and testament posted." The Evil Internet Strike Again !!! My hardcore wife gives me the "evil" eye, as if there is going to be hell to pay when all the guests leave. I give her back the "eye" that says my laptop...MY BUSINESS !!!!! His hardcore JW wife moves in closer by his side to the laptop as if to monitor what sites he's going to. He's quietly surfing....his mood is changing.....he gets real quiet for the rest of the evening. He never shares anything else he's found with her so she's otherwise oblivious to what he's looking at. She's much too busy "bumping her gums". About an hour later I notice that he's turned the laptop off and moved it aside. Later, after eyeing me speechlessly for the rest of the night, he makes a little small talk with me before they leave, but mentions nothing about what I have no doubt, he saw.
Now, to put this in perspective, I've heard this brother-in-law in casual conversation describe himself as agnostic. And I know from earlier conversations with him that 1975 is a very sore point for him but whenever this subject is brought up in familial WT discussions, the Hardcores dubs angrily shoot it down proclaiming that the Soceity never said such a thing. I remember being over his house one day and carefully questioning him about his and his wife's feelings about Dateline and the Soceity's stand on peadophiles (sp). I was feeling him out in preperation of breaking the UN scandal to him, but I didn't get the sense that he was ready to acknowledge that the Soceity is not the perfect organization it claims to be. His wife certainly was not. For the time being, I thought it best for me to keep my trap shut.
Now I have IE set-up to delete the history file daily. I'd only used my laptop to check mail earlier in the day. So, I have a record of "EVERY" site he went to, but, I have to check it before midnight when it erases the history file and starts from scratch. After going to a few news sites he found is way to www.observer.org and perused through a few pages that dealt with the history of the organization and Russell in particular. He then made his way to information about the 1975 fiasco, the generation change, and how the WT dodged any responsibility for their speculating about these events and instead, blamed the fank and file members.
Fast forward to the next day......
I have a house full of guests. He pulls me aside for a little chat. I'm thinking, aawwwww shit here it comes....I hope he doesn't make me get "ig-nant" in hear.
BIL:"That was a very interesting site, the observer, I plan on going back there again."
ME SURPRISED AS HELL AND ALMOST SPEECHLESS:"You might not like what you see there. Most everything they say about the Soceity is authentic, can be verified, and not very flattering. You're gonna have to have an open mind and be able to take criticism about the Soceity if you plan on spending any time there."
BIL:"Oh, I can do that. I consider myself dis-associated anyway."
The vision of me picking myself off the floor flashes through my mind !!!!!
ME SURPRISED AS HELL, TOTALLY SPEECHLESS AND STAMMERING AT THIS POINT:
"Awwww......eerrrrrrmmmmmm.....you probably won't be able to share anything you see and learn with your wife. She most likely WILL NOT accept it and it may cause problems for you."
BIL:"Oh, I plan on not putting the link in my favorites. I plan on hiding it deep in a file somewhere. I understand that I at this time can not share this with my wife. She will never accept anything negative about the Soceity."
ME regaining my composure:"You know, I was trying to introduce you to this type of info about the Soceity some months ago, but I was unsure of where you stood mentally with the WT. I didn't want to cause any problems for you and I wasn't sure how you'll accept the information presented. There are other sites out there with authentic unbiased information that exposes the Soceity."
I leave him with this statement hanging in the air. If he wants anymore information out of me right now, then he's going to have to specifically ask for it. Instead he changes the subject to something else. But, he's let the cat out the bag. I now know where he stands, but assess that he doesn't yet feel comfortable about discussing it further.
I almost can't wait to visit him at his house to see if he really followed up on further going through the site. At that time, if he appears to be ready, I'll share more with him.
But, today, I'm breathing one hell of a sigh of relief. It's been one hell of a weekend and ONE HELLUVA SURPRISE !!!!!!!!