CandidlyNuts...
if and when you send it....what kind of reaction do you think you'll get?
Good question. In fact, since posting that letter, I'm beginning to have second thoughts about sending it. I keep thinking, is this really the wisest thing for me to do?
When weighing this matter, I ask myself what I really want to happen. I guess what I want is for my family and close friends to be willing to look at ALL of the information about the WTS, to wake up as I did, and I want to do whatever I can to help them ease into a less stressful, more meaningful life post-Watchtower. But let's look at the reality of this situation.
My father will soon be 74 and not long after my mother will be 73. They have both been "in" since the ages of 19 and 18. They have been lifelong, zealous WTS advocates, my father professing to be of the anointed since before I was born and my mother having studied with scads of people now in the organization. Sure, it's possible they'll wake up. But not very likely. And what if they do?
Well, it's possible they will be able to have some relief from worry about the WTS-style armageddon, the nonstop cycle of pseudo-study, meetings, field service, assemblies and conventions. But, should they come to the conclusions I have, it's more likely that they will (at their advanced age, with 54 years of their lives wasted in dedication to the borg) find themselves depressed, lives without meaning, full of sorrow over all those they unwittingly helped mislead.
With reference to my friends and siblings, it's another matter entirely. They still have time to recover from the effects of a great LifeQuake.
So, on one side, there is my deep desire to (if at all possible) help those I love come to discover the real truth. And on the other, concern for my aging parents. And, while I can be active in trying to help JWs anonymously online, I can't think of a way to help my friends and siblings without my parents finding out.
To answer your question more directly, I think my mother would probably read the letter, then send it back to me with a note claiming she didn't. I had intended to send it to the rest of my family as well. There are about thirty in the organization.
I would imagine that 30% would refuse to read it. Another 40% would do what I think my mom would do (above.) The remaining 30% might actually reflect on some of the things I write, and either throw it out--or into a drawer, where they may read it again later. Perhaps one or two might be affected by it immediately, but a greater number will remember the things I wrote--as they themselves begin to question the organization. And that is my greatest wish: in the event they do begin to question, they give themselves permission to conduct an objective investigation, and end up calling me.