At my Grandfathers funeral I was approached by two of my father's cousins while talking to an uncle that had been out for more than a decade.. Both were woman in their 60's raised in the troof and had never married. Lived with their parents their entire life. "Can you believe that this young man disappeared from our lives and never bothered to call? He stopped going to meetings and and just left. Can you believe that? " they said to my uncle who had just lost his father. They proceeded to go on some sort of rant about my abandonment of them and my loss of love for Jehovah and "His" "loving" organization. They basically attacked me as a person to my uncle right in front me at my grandfather's (his dad) funeral. His chin hit the ground as we shunned them together at that point. Felt good. The tactless gall of these two never ceased to amaze me. I've got a milion stories about these two self righteous lifers.
This of course was following the prior witnomercial of a memorial that always describes witness beliefs to remember the person because witnesses HAVE NO beliefs of their own. Not allowed to.
If I went on about all of the appaling behaviors at such events I would simply not have the time. My last witness funeral was the worst. It was for my Dad.
One of my best friends(who is not a witness, I do not have any friends that are) walked out and said that he was sad for my dad as he learned nothing about him as a person from the memorial. and that what he really learned is that it was just an opportunity for these people to not have to knock on doors for the day because all they did was try to convert non- believers that thought they were showing up to a funeral.
He could not believe that I did not walk out as it was unmistakable that it was obvious and known, that while not named directly, I was pointed out by both speakers as being the only non believing child of my father's and that his big concern upon dying was that his son with his family would come back to the religion and be saved. All this with my wife and children sitting next to me who have never been a part of this mess. I felt as if the entire room were staring at my family. Believers with disdain, false hope,and disgust; non-believers with astonishment at the unfeeling nature of the organization and speakers that presented the memory of my father.
And yet I knew what I was in for. I have seen it before. I do not shelter my children from this crap because they need to know. They need to know what garbage is when they hear it. You never know when a relative will try to infiltrate believeing that their intentions are good, right and true. An education about the atrocities of this religion from an early age is critical. They need to understand why their Grandma doesn't come and visit although living close. The children need to understand that the relatives they love gave up their gift of free will because they believe a group of men control what God gave humankind.
There are more examples and stories. More another time.
