saw a town drunk study with the Witnesses and eventually join them and sober up. He lived the rest of his days as a clean sober useful person. The community was better off, he was better off, and I enjoyed knowing him. He was one of three Witnesses who didn't shun me at the circuit assembly in Sioux Falls in 1992. Do I want what he had? Nope! Do I think he wasted his life? Not at all. I'm glad he found something that he enjoyed that improved his life and improved the community.
This point is actually spot on Gary;
I too have similar experiences; an elder in the congregation I attended was an inspiration to me; as a 20 year old he couldnt read or write but learned to do so, he became a JW. Hes always been honest, trustworthy and a good friend and i still visit him once in a while to see how he and his elderly wife are doing (even more so since they are both ill and I fear not long left). We joke about the fact that i dont go to the meetings anymore (although he would prefer me to be there of course) and I jokingly tell him i couldnt possibly go to the meetings because me turning up might just add to his other illnesses and push him into an even earlier grave. He respects my beliefs as they stand right now and respects the fact that I couldnt betray my beliefs by living life as a JW, I know this pains him greatly but even so, the respect is there and ultimately the respect is mutual.
Has he wasted his life? absolutely not. Is he a wise man? I would say so because even wise men are wrong in some of their ideas but the man as a great sense of humanity, a great sense of morality and tries his very best to be the christian he aspires to be by helping people benefit their lives in the best way he personally knows how.
Again I dont share his beliefs, but I share his morals, I share his ideals, and hes taught me a lot about honesty, humility and the ability to take advice and also learn when to apply it (and know there is a diffference).
If a person in life has tried his very best to be best he can be then in my view rightly or wrongly there can be no respect lost for such a person.
DB