Twelve days ago, I was at an airport waiting
and there were two JWs doing ‘cart witnessing.’ They were seated and their cart
was ~10’ from them. I usually walk in the terminal and I passed their area several
times with zero eye contact and zero ‘witnessing.’
On one lap around the terminal, a middle-aged
JW woman relocated and was standing next to her cart. I acknowledged her when I
passed (head nod) and she asked me if I wanted any literature. No ‘sermon.’ No ‘preaching’
component. No reasoning with me.
I asked her why Tony Morris is off of the GB.
She replied that she didn’t know but she guessed it was for “health reasons.”
She seemed to try to shut down that line of inquiry as she said Tony and his
family deserve privacy. I scoffed and said that all of the other GB members who
had health issues remained on the GB until they passed. Same with elders in a
congregation. I stressed that she KNEW that is SOP and she was trying to
obfuscate. She bristled and asked me how I know about JWs.
I explained that I have an brother (who is an
elder) and a sister who are JWs and I keep up with the goings-on. I asked her
if she was raised a JW or did she convert. She replied in a very precise manner
that she made her own decision as an adult after careful study, etc. etc. I
pressed and asked if her parents were JWs and if they were JWs when she was a
kid, etc. The complete truth is that she was raised as a JW… regardless of what
she may have done at age 18.
We discussed other JW stuff (including the ‘tight
pants’ issue and that the JW.org video clip was being played on ‘worldly’
stations and being mocked by the gay community). When leaving I asked her to do
me a favor: ‘When you are alone and it is quiet, please think about our
discussion regarding whether you were raised a JW. You prevaricated and tried
to muddle the difference between being raised a JW and ‘making your own
decision.’ You knew exactly what I was asking but you chose to try to divert. Why?’
No closer to discovering the story behind Tony’s
departure but the interaction refreshed my sincere and deep-felt empathy for
those still in.