also found a rather sad one....
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=11258754&blogID=97745447 Many of you may know that I was a Jehovah's Witness for most of my life. I was disfellowshipped in 2000, and as years passed I learned many things that unsettled me enough to stay away. In case you're unfamiliar with the practice of disfellowshipping, it's similar to the Catholic practice of shunning or ex-communicating. I'm not sure about the others, but I know with JW's some of the rules are that you cannot speak to disfellowshipped people - including family. It's based in part on one of the Apostle Paul's letters in which he urged the faithful not to even eat with such a person. All that being said, this is the letter that my 25-year-old brother wrote to me after seeing the DVD yesterday. After reading this, I asked him to call me, which he did, and after about 30 or 45 mins, he explained to me that if I choose not to be a JW, then I cannot be part of the family and we have nothing more to say to each other... (feel free to add your comments) (The email is below.. i blocked out the names).... Wonderfully put together. Cried at the end. I really miss seeing you with the girls. If that video got national exposure, would you have to get permission to use that music? Still crying thinking about how much has changed in a year. Like you, I can still hear in my head all that mom and dad would tell us both the funny and true things, and the things we didn't like to hear. I also can hear talks you gave at the hall and can see you doing it in the future. As much as I know for a fact that you were hurt by dad's death and him not being there for you, what stops you from being there for your girls? I get angry for you picturing them eventually calling someone else Dad. I know you wouldn't like that. You have always had the talent and ability to talk to people and you get better and better at it with time. I beg you to see first-hand for yourself how truly happy you would be if you used that talent for Jehovah. I would love to have you here just watching TV and laughing or whatever, but doing it as a real complete family, not a broken one. How would you want me to explain to my child (no, there's not one on the way yet) why they never see their uncle and their cousins together at the same time? I want you to be able to tell our children crazy stories about you pushing me off the truck and us getting drunk on the paper route. I know T***ll is crazy, but I'm crazy too, J****a's crazy, Mama's crazy, you are crazy. The whole world is. And I'm not saying that to make y'all problems seem small but the fact is we need and deserve a united family. Do you realize that Mama is in New Orleans completely alone and the rest of us are in different states and have stayed either by choice or because circumstance dictates it? I see families at the Memorial together, at Assemblies together, and out eating together and I can't be happy for them because I am too busy being sad that that's not even an option for us. Really trippin' out because we know for a fact that within those families, some of the spouses may not get along or really truly have serious beef (how big the beef is may shock you). If we, as families, let our problems separate us, then the problems have won. Only together can we beat them. Your daughters are being raised without you and your guidance, intelligence, jokes, and ideas. They need you to balance their mom's ideas, teach them about boys, show them how to have a clean house; basically how to be a M**y, not a R**nd (you know I ain't lyin'). No record or video deal, national exposure, magazine or newspaper article, free meal, celeb status, or free apartment can beat you and I being able to say, "Me and the wife are coming over with the kids for dinner," "The superbowl party is at my house this year," "Where are WE gonna take mom and dad this year for their anniversary", or "My public talk is this Sunday, tell me what you think about this opening." Or whatever else a younger brother tells his older brother about families. It's sad that I don't even know, that we haven't been able to experience what we are supposed to as brothers. Nothing that happened in the late '90s or early 2000s should be allowed to prolong deserved happiness any longer. Certain things we cannot avoid like bills, taxes, ignorant people, our own idiosynchrosies, and other of life's ambiguities, but this thing of ours, this entire situation can be fixed and YOU KNOW HOW. And not caring about sounding selfish we deserve to have a reinstated Karama around and how dare you keep him away from us. Whatever the reason is can't be bigger or more important than your family.
The fury that you have can be a blinding one. Punk it. Punk it and don't allow it to lead you as a slave. The Memorial this year is on April 12. Jehovah will be glad to see you there. But Satan won't, and watch how many obstacles he tries to throw in your way to keep you from going. Whether it be studio time, a bad headache, a gig, or you don't have the right clothes. He will try, but you won't let him stop you. I believe in you now like I did BEFORE you decided to go back for those extra COINS on Mario 3 instead of finishing the level and DIED (don't act like you don't remember, I'm still mad). But this time, your family is the prize. Don't go back for things that can't compare. -R**
