I understand how people feel hurt when other's who were once close to them and don't, won't, or are prohibited to associate with them because of WT organization's shunning policies. I have family that will not talk to me or will accept anything I send as gifts, cards, letters, etc.
I drank the rotten waste of supposed spiritual food at the proper time from a "faithful and discreet slave" for 40+ years before I started to question and eventually woke up. I tried to stay within the "fold" with personal study, alcohol, and Cognitive dissonance. However, that just wasn't good enough. When I fully awoke, I found no "friends" at all.
Was there a loss? Yes, of course, there was. However, I have chosen to look at this differently.
In our journey of life, we "bump" into thousands of people that we don't ever see again but they made an impression on us one way or another. For example, I went to 12 years school and only have two individuals from High School that are friends on Facebook. We seldom talk, but we are "Facebook Friends". I also enjoyed visiting with an elderly man at a restaurant while having breakfast yesterday as he briefly stopped in his travels to Florida. I've always joked that my family couldn't celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving Holidays because we would all shoot each other.
So now, I have family that will not talk with me. I don't take drugs, I'm not an alcoholic, and I have respectable and continuous lucrative employment, health insurance, and I take financial care of my immediate family without asking for anything from my surviving parent. Interestingly, the majority of the family are still living on Mom's tit or sustaining themselves on the meals at WT's table as they volunteer their time.
At first, my families shunning bothered me because as humans we want/need/ or desire to have the approval of others especially our family. Their shunning made me question my self-worth. As time passed though, I realized, that I didn't have anything in common with these individuals that had briefly been so much a part of my life. I also realized that my personal value did not change. When they shunned me, My personal perspective of my "stock" value had diminished, but as Warren Buffet would say, I was still a sound profitable person, investment, a sound moral code, ethics, and was basically a good guy. It was only in My Mind that I wasn't worthy.
Brothers and Sister's, we should be proud that we have survived one of the most successful and deceptive cons in history.
We need to stop thinking and believing that we are second-class citizens, mentally diseased, or lack loyalty or any other thing because we rejected the false teachings of JW's.
We are loyal to the base fundamental qualities of the human race and what God (Or for all, Someone or something) gave to us for a moral compass. TRUTH. For many of us, that is what attracted us to JW's. However, in our quest, we found they didn't have it. This will not be the first time nor the last time we will be deceived by someone claiming they have the truth or the best product.
If we choose, Life is like a treasure hunt, always looking for the "holy grail" or the "hidden treasure" of some previous civilization. We were once told that we would inherit the beautiful houses of the non-believers, all without any work except taking two magazines to these poor bastard's house, and shaking our feet when they rejected our message.
It can also be like a journey through various terrain, desert, and fauna. Enjoy the time and the journey. People come and they go, like changing the scene of a play. We tend to believe that just because someone will not visit with us, that this is the final chapter. Well, write a new chapter, when they are crawling to us asking us for support when they finally realize that they have been deceived. Hell, write a new book. This is not the end.
There are many chapters left in our lives, perhaps, several new books. What we have gone through is temporary. Take a deep breath, make a step forward, and then do it again. Clean your windshield off and put your nose over the steering wheel and drive. Life will get better. There are many beautiful sunrises and sunsets in our future. Enjoy them all.
Peace,
Out
