It is still a wonderful discovery and pleasant surprise to continually keep finding that there are some awesomely *good* people out there in the "world"!
It's such a neat thing, this (slow, yet very rewarding!) process of making new, non-JW friends.... I recently had my FIRST meal at the home of one of these new wonderful people we've just met and I just must share this!
Because -- guess what!!
There were NO wild orgies (okay, that may be disappointing for some of you to hear, lol! ;), there were NO goat sacrifices, no conversations filled with constant swearing and references to sexual practices (as the WT would try to have you believe!) no circle dances around a living nude altar... None of that! Also nobody was eating steaks or sausages dripping with blood nor was anybody shooting heroin at the table, or sniffing coke.
Oh, there may have been the craftier, more subtle references to COLLEGE and charities they were involved in (oooh, those sneaky "worldlings!) but my goodness, these were normal, happy people doing normal everyday things!! The evilness of it all, I tell you...!
...
And so I had a wonderfully enjoyable time! And you know what else I've noticed, and this also comes as a surprise -- is how CANDID people are!! People (well, some of them, not all, but many!) talk freely about things, personal things that as a witness are so surprising to hear.
Because as a JW, one of the "happiest people on the planet!", you cannot speak freely about problems or depressions or hard times... JWs will look at you strangely or uncomfortably. JWs will tell you that Satan or his demons are trying to slow you down or steal your joy... or they begin thinking that you must be spiritually weak... or you perhaps have some "secret sin", or that you need to do more field service, study, prayer, meeting attendance, ugh!
With JWs, so much is SURFACE. You don't know if people really like you for *you* or if they're spending time with you because they "have to", or because it's their Christian duty, or because it's your turn to be shown hospitality.... so many smiles at the KH are phoney, so phoney. Surface, surface, surface.
The more I am coming to know some of these wonderfully kind, generous, helpful and hospitable "worldly" people, the more refreshing it is to see that they are, for the most part, HONEST, hard working people, who are exciting, who have ENERGY (that's a whole other concept, lol!) and who are unique, individual, candid people. It is such a totally cool thing now... and to think that a year or two ago, I was worried that I would never make any new friends because, as the JWs always like to say, "people are so busy, they haven't got time..." etc.
People on the ex-JW forums a year or two ago would tell me that it keeps getting better, the longer you are away from the mind control and all the JW stuff, and YES, it is true!!!
Life is good, life is exciting, life is refreshing and FULL of discovery and experiences, and yes, wonderful, *good* people! :)