Dear copsec,
I lost my youth, health, and about $200,000 when I left JWs(I had to hide in a shelter with nothing but the clothes on my back ), not to mention the fact that I have been shunned by all family friends I ever knew(I was raised third generation JW). I had my tubes tied so I could pioneer with out distraction--after all I could always have kids in the new world right? I gave up college, marriage, and career for them. I got nothing back. less than nothing. I got death threats. I was 34 when I left. I am 40 now and I was cheated out of all those yrs that I will never get back and I dont even have the hope of Paradise. I will never get those childhood memories that I didn't have like christmases and birthdays, not even saturday morning cartoons. I wasted my life, they wasted my life.
I am happy now. but it can never make up for what they took from me.
Ravyn