Life is tough regardless of whether we were ever JWs. My own life has taken some twists and turns I did not expect or like ... and I have to focus all my attention now on getting my badly needed open-heart surgery or face death in about six months ... so in the next couple of days, I am making the last of three posts for a while ... then all my efforts will be aimed at getting better, and facing some issues in my life and making the best decisions possible for me and my family. I decided to limit many activities because I tend to do too much and neglect some things that I should not ... this is not a good-bye post, but more of a long vacation post.
A Second Chance: Many people die without having a second chance or opportunity to settle their life's affairs and make peace ... I feel fortunate in that I have both a second chance ... and if that ""chance"" does not prove fruitful, then at least I have opportunity to say my peace and settle matters ... I often wondered what I might say or how I might feel should I really face death, and have the opportunity to write on my own epitaph ... well, now ... here it is, facing me straight on ... and now I know ...
I have decided to talk about three things:
1. What I have come to believe and feel about life post-JW experience. This will include both the good, bad, and ugly ... what I have come to appreciate, and what I have come to detest. People I love and some that I do not. This will be a strong post, and likely will earn me as many new enemies as it will new friends ... so be it ... I have nothing to lose anyway ... intellectual honesty, being true to myself, and personal dignity is all that I have left ...
2. The JW Child Abuse issue: So much has been said about this. I started dealing with this issue on H20 in the summer of 1999 ... and continued right on during the quiet arrival of Bill Bowen ... then the public media ... and right on until the issue with Ray Franz ... and what all this boiled down to has had a major impact on my life ... and it even resulted on one poster calling me a "pedophile loving asshole" ... wow, life is stranger than fiction ...
3. My epitaph: This will be my closing ... about how I hope to be remembered ... and what I take with me and how I remember many here and on other forums ... with that, I will close out my Internet life for many months to come ...
Hope you all will read and enjoy the next three parts ... and that my departure will be meaningful and helpful to as many as possible. - Jim Whitney