by Englishman 20 Replies latest jw friends
Once you have dealt with the issues of responsibility a good measure of amnesia helps folks get over their ordeal. On the other hand to relive those events again through a DB is not always helpful. So some folks come, get the support, get out of the Org, never come back here, never want to! Thats cool! Not everybody wants to be a Simon Weisenthal!
ISP
..Or even a Simon Green.
Englishman
Excellent post, Englishman. But should that last name be in the above post? Shouldn't an alert moderator come by and remove it in case it offers "too much personal information." Where are those alert moderators when you need them?
Gamaliel
As a newbie I am extremely grateful to everyone else here who has taken the time to post. Leaving the borg is proving really hard for me, but being able to hear the experiences of others who have been "part of the collective" but managed to leave is helping me immensely. Though I don't know any of you, you guys are keeping me alive. Thanks!
Right on, Englishman! Not posting regularly can mean that one hasn't exactly moved on, but their current situation means that they can't get on the computer for leisurely reading and writing friends.
When you're up to your ass in alligators; its a bad time to think about draining the swamp. Or so my husband says.
Hope to be more regular here when I've emptied the job jar.
Good thread englishman. This is a healing place for most of us, and once the healing is done, many move on, but many stay and help the new ones here. Not every thread has to do with JW's. So there is a need to communicate with one another on various topics. This forum is unique, not because it's a XJW site, but also because I feel that people trust each other here and actually like one another. We can get over our JW experience, but we can continue exploring other topics on this site with people who we learned to appreciate and love. I don't want people to think that they have to move on to prove that they are healed.
This post is right along the lines of what I've been thinking about lately - when I was in the borg, so much of my identity was wrapped up in being a JW. Now that I've left, I feel like I've tried to put too much emphasis on my identity as an ex-JW. Like when I ran across an old boss a few months ago, and the first thing I had to tell him about was how I had left JW's. His reaction - "I didn't know that you were a JW, um, yeah, it's, um, great that you left..."
I think it is great that there are certain people on this board that will always be here to welcome the newbies and debate with the occasional still-actives, but I don't feel like that is my place. I wasn't raised in it, I never had any family in it, I didn't marry in it, I was never very active in it, I was a marginal JW at best. My JW experience was pretty mild compared to most.
I was thinking about starting a "farewell" thread but I don't think that I'm enough of a board personality to warrant that sort of thing. And I enjoy this board enough to know that I will probably be around here for a while longer, but hopefully less and less frequently. I am getting to the point where I don't like to identify myself as an ex-JW anymore, I just want to be an autonomous entity with no strings, baggage, or labels attached.
now you've come to mention it mike, i've been thinking about moving on. not because i'm fed up, but because i feel i've learned enough and can proceed onwards in my spiritual growth.
i think this board means different things to different people. i wouldn't totaly stop posting or reading threads, but now i feel the time spent here can be put to more positive things that affect me.
it's great to see people who have come and gone, and that are still here, who have turned their lives around for the better and have gained much out of this forum. i've spoken and met to some really nice and genuine people from this forum. some things in life we're not in harmony with, but the vast majority here, from whatever background or belief, help each other in progressing forward with our lifes in whatever way.
but now that the WTS world is longer my reality, i feel i'm treading water somewhat.
PD
But, I am happy for ya! And I'm glad that you won't leave completely.
Nikita
Mike,
When I first found internet sites such as this a couple of years ago, I was hungary for the truth to such an extent I started printing documents on hardcopy... whatever I could lay my hands on.
I had been out for, I guess 6 - 7 years back then and knew it wasn't the truth; but here it was in black and white! It was my own suspicions confirmed!
I read 'Crisis of Conscience', and that was it for me. The internet research followed by that book was all I needed. I could have posted my "goodbye" post right then...
I must admit, I don't read every post discussing the date Babylon was destroyed and so on. Now, I stay because of the relationships I have built up with people, the varied interesting topics (JW or not), to find out how JW doctrine is changing (and new scandals) and to try and give back a little to the people we constantly see here arriving as newbies.
