Joe234, what you say is so true, we all know what is going to happen when we walk away, hell, we all did it to others at some time without stopping to think of the emotional trauma it caused them. So why does it hurt so much? You don't want to mix them you don't agree with the nonsense that goes on behind the scenes so why does it affect us as badly as it does?
I have a theory, JW'S are always banging on about how much persecution they get & how unfair it all is for them to be treated that way. We are indoctrinated with it, when we walk away it is a shock to realise that the persecutors are actually them & we are now one of their targets. We really have done nothing wrong except to say NO, I wont let you blow out the light inside me that makes me who I am. It isn't shunning in itself, we have all experienced that person who doesn't like us for what ever the reason & shuns us. It is all the other crap that comes with it. The constant cruelties that they will go out of their way to inflict. Like trying to take work away from you, gossiping in groups if they see you out etc, & you know that it is forever, that they will never stop. A youngster wont just get D'ed for smoking, they will get an entire character assassination. It runs deep.
Our absences doesn't affect them because when we were present all we were was a number.
THE BASTARDS. LOL.