@dubstepped: "I'd rather be shunned for doing the loving thing than loved for doing the shunning thing."
Good for you, dubstepped. That's such a genuinely loving, kind and good way to think and feel. You're far and away a better person than your JW family.
The shunning thing is one of the factors that led me away from that cult. I knew it was hateful and hurtful. I guess I've always had a soft spot for the underdog and I never like to hear of people being emotionally hurt or abused. So the JW practice of shunning always bothered me deeply.
I always remember a DF'd young man in our congregation whom I adored like my big brother because he was such a nice, good person. He was about 20, I was 12. I was with my mother one day out shopping when we happened to meet him. My face lit up with a big smile, so did his. I said hi but my mother grabbed me by the arm rather painfully and yanked me away as if he was some horrible, dangerous person. I remember the crushed look on his face. And the hurt in his eyes. I got threatened by my mother that I'd get a beating if I ever even looked at him again. Just a horrid, disgusting way to treat another person, all because they dare to think for themselves. The JWs can't tolerate that sort of thing, the independent mind. It's worse than being a pedophile apparently.