I was a "born in", so in turn, I was fully indoctrinated to believe I would never die. I remember being very young, like 5 or 6 years old, and saying to my Dad, "WOW aren't we so lucky that we will be the first people, ever, to never die".
My Dad would agree, and we would feel great about it. However, as time passes on, and life, and the world changes around us, we start to realize that maybe this fairy tale is not true.
Like others have said, I heard many older JW's tell me they were never going to pass away, as the big A, was just around the corner. Like we all know, these older ones are long gone now.
Its funny, but the only times I ever step into my old Kingdom hall, or any Hall, is when one of those older ones passes away. Every time this happens, I am getting older, and older, and these older ones are getting less, and less.
Whats funny, is I stare straight at, and sometimes even say hello to, the "head" elder who DF'd me. It is VERY empowering to stand there, with my head held high, OVER 20 years later from being DF'd by this man, and the big A is still NOT here. All this man fought for, and all the people he judged, and hurt, and condemned, so far is for NOTHING.
We are all "equal" men, when death comes for us. This elder will, no doubt, still see me every few years, when someone older passes away from my childhood. He will still see me, as the big A will, no doubt, not be here. As the decades pass, everyone in this cult must realize that ALL they believed is certainly a sham. I will most likely be attending the elder who DF'd me's OWN funeral, in the near future. He will be gone, and forgotten, like the rest.
My Father, and Mother are both still alive. They truly believed that they would maybe never die, sadly, I know they do not think this any longer. They realize that we all, will most likely pass away, as did all before us. My parents were NOT narcicisstic people. They didn't believe they wouldn't die, out of some feeling that they were more special than other humans. Instead, it was from a sort of "romantic" thought, that life would just be too cruel, if a creature like humans, could contemplate their own existence, and have the desire and will to live forever, but yet had to die, in the end. My Father never wanted to except that this was, all for nothing. The thought of a loving creator, who would "balance" the scales, appealed to his sense of justice.
I feel bad for my parents as they grow older each year. Fortunatelly, they do NOT shun me, or my family, and their beautiful granddaughters. These are the things that keep us going, and help them thru, in their last days here on earth.
I can assure you, it would be a much more bitter pill for me to swallow, if I did not have my children. Thinking that you would never die, and then coming to the realization that you WILL, was hard for me. I am still grasping it. Having my 2 girls, and enjoying life, as best we can, as a family, has certainly softened the blow. To those that wanted children, and never had them, because of the policies of this evil CULT, you are the true victims. To me, once you reach the end of your child bearing years, and realize it was for nothing, must be one of the hardest things to endure. I truly feel for all those who have endured this.
