Amazing,
I've had few hours sleep and feel much better. I'll get right to the point for the entire reason that I started this thread.
Like so many others, I'm TIRED of sitting on my rear end and would like to DO SOMETHING! Your stories are nice and even encouraging, but dammit, how do we replicate some of that success for others?
I want to explain why I feel that there is a vast difference, yet a core oneness between guys like you and guys like me.
First, an example:
I started an exotic bird breeding facility a few years ago in part because I found the socialization aspects of rearing, highly intelligent, rare, expensive parrots to be very rewarding. It never ceases to amazing me how these animals, (now scientifically proven to posses linguistic, deductive/inductive cognition and to be at least as smart as a dolphin or a chimpanzee) can be transformed from a shy, constantly alert-so-as-not-to-be-eaten jungle creature, into masses of spoiled rotten veritable love sponges. Why?
It is precisely because of their intelligence that they are maleable like wet clay when young. Being such, thousands of years of naturally selected behaviors and predispositions can be mitigated and sometimes virtually elimanated to produce a fantastic companion in possesion of intense loyalty and a never ending source of affection.
When raised in the truth with all your relatives, we have been molded in such a way to virtually elimanate survival instincts that others may find far easier...like yourself. Never short on cajones, I've never had a problem with public speaking, whether to Fortune 500 Executives, large crouds, or to 30 million viewers on Cable television when I owned a direct marketing product development company. Yet, I still find it difficult to think on my feet with clarity of purpose when dealing with family.
All they need to do is pull a couple triggers, whether it be a facial expression, body language or the right linguistic button, and my tongue swells up to the size of a melon and a feeling of intense angst sweeps over me. Believe me, it really pisses me off because I know it is strictly a Palovonian reflex. Dammit!
I suspect many others may feel similarly. You escaped all that, soared to the top of the dung heap, surveyed the landscape from a birds eye view, received training in the ways of political posturing, and then used those very skills to finally make a sweeping exit carrying your family and others as on the wings of an eagle.
Lee Elder proposed that an entire web-site could be dedicated to the subject and feature people who have sucessfully exited with family members. The reality of the situation is that those instances are rare. I'd like to help change that.
Any organized effort to educate people how to exit so that they won't have to be alone will need a Champion, not in the sense of someone to adulate, but as a living breathing source of hope.... a tangible example of victory that says,"I did it, and so can you". Someone who fought fire with fire in the very shadow of the Tower.
There is a lot of things brewing in the WT dung heap these days, molestation/upcomming Dateline story, UN hypocrisy, blood double standards, unnessary deaths becomming more known. The WBTS is verifiably starting to twitch and many if not most of the members are taking notice in various degrees. But I guarantee you that the next thought they have is "Where else can I go?".
The time is ripe to provide people with tangible tools and stategies for recovering their lives, not by a Christian group, nor by a generic cult expert, though both could be valuable resources. But rather by those who have lived the life, talked the talk, and walked the walk and succeeded.
Why not schedule a meeting of various people that might could substantially contribute to a hands on weekend seminar?. Why not develop a questionaire and post it on this board and ask people how and if they would be willing to contribute to such an organized effort? Why not call Steven Hassan and ask if he'd be willing to assist in structuring strategies? I know of Phd. therapists who would probably be willing to donate time. Above all we need living examples of success stories, many of them. Atteendees could role play with one another, practice techniques, draw strength from one another and more importantly start to smell the sweet scent of victory rather than the stench of lonliness and defeat. Hope is a powerful tool in the hands of a skilled tactician.
Of course, you could be content with writing stories about the life and times of Amazing and receiving all the "Excellent Post" replies. As I mentioned previously, you certainly have no moral responsibility toward anyone outside your family. But, wouldn't it be nice to at least call a meeting with experts from various fields to discuss the feasibility of such a training seminar?
I promised you at least three reasons why you might want to consider a more organized involvement:
1. Legacy - Obviously from your posts this is something important to you. Yes, you already have left one for your immediate family. But given your privedleged position and insider viewpoint, can you really say you have left one for anyone else other than a defeatest dejection mired in the thought, "Yea, that was easy for an annointed elder but not for me"?
2. Pentinence - You brought 15 people into the Truth? How many of those people cut ties with their non-JW families? When their children grow up in the Truth how many things will they miss out on including their own families as is so often the case with kids who eventually leave. Do you feel regret for installing the WBTS program in their family?
3. Love - Mt. 19:19b You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Like you, I still feel that Jesus is a great example to follow. I understand the importance of modeling to achieve goals. While I am not a member of a church, I do attend a non-denominational church and occsasionally teach Bible study. If you still think Jesus is a great guy to follow, to what extent will you be happy in following his command above? How would you have liked to have been treated if you you didn't have the necessary tools to exit with your family as you did?
I certainly will not condem you for continuing the writing approach and living your own comfortable life with your family. But personally, I feel that the time is ripe to rise up and strike while the WBTS is about to go through much more shake up and give Lurkers a chance to get profesional training from qualified people to exit and take at least one family member with them.
People are weak when alone. The society totally understands this. If people start leaving by the twos and threes and fours, then families can stand united and turn the shunning process around on the perpetrator, the society. Then they will see the devastating effects of the shunning process for themselves to the glory of Christ's legacy of love.
I don't want to even start a project that I don't have a fair chance of succeding in. Uniting qualified people might provide the edge people need to succeed or at least to maintain hope, which in itself is a powerful force to deal with.
I propose a meeting with all intrested and qualified people invited. We could have guest speakers, coffee and cake, draw strength from one another and discuss strategies that work. Maybe a comprehensive plan will develop, who knows. When our founding fathers got together as a group of qualified men to discuss the problems of a repressive regime, a plan developed that became the model of civilized government that resulted, against all odds, in kicking King George's butt all the way back to jolly ole' England!
I invite all reading this thread to post your opinion of such a meeting. I for one, am tired of doing nothing. Life only rewards action, not inaction.
Amazing, you provide the leadership, I vow to help you find the muscle.