It hurts to even read these things. Obviously she had some other problems, as I still can't fathom how shunning would push one to murder their spouse or their own children . I assume they will say she was still welcome at the hall and free to attend meetings as she pleased. It hurts more to read it stemmed not from "gross sin" or "misconduct," but something as simple as higher education. I'm pretty hormonal lately, but for some reason this is hurting me so much.
My own sister survived a few suicide attempts because I called 911 even though I was a witness and she came out as homosexual. It didn't matter in those moments. She is my sister. She was not able resolve her issues with her sexuality and being a witness (and she was never even baptized!) I hate to think that someone reaching out could have prevented this. Maybe this sister was also discouraged from getting different treatments, as my sister was at times while studying.
I recently spoke with an old friend who is still in and she admitted she refused to give stem cells from her bone marrow to her blood brother because they would also need blood. She said her conscience wouldn't allow it. I was so sick to my stomach thinking my conscience wouldn't allow me to risk the life of my brother if I had the means to save him. She said they ended up finding a donor from Germany. It is insane. We haven't spoken since, and this was the end of January.
When do people draw the line between conscience and the right thing when it involves lives? Yet it is argued that a preaching work is saving more lives than this...every day I shake my head at what I believed and honestly wonder of I had not been so headstrong as a JW in my teens and not pushed my sister to study, maybe she would not have been so depressed. The worst day was watching her taken out on a stretcher while they tried to revive her after a medication overdose. Ugh. I'm emotional today, I'm sorry. I'm done for now..
