So I just learned on another thread that there are adults who have never been to a funeral, not that that's a bad thing. Makes me wonder because I got dragged to one at 6, and I still remember how I felt, what song we sang- and who I was sitting next to (an adult, not my mother for some reason) who helped me to stand up to sing the song because I was so distraught. Is it a JW thing to make kids go to funerals?
This thread, like others of mine, has to do with my mother. I love her, but the more I look back on my childhood, the more bizarre a person I think she is. My mother seems to have a strange response to death.
My first experience with death was when I was six years old. An entire JW family died in a fire. They were friends of ours, my mom and the deceased mom grew up on the same street. Early Sunday morning with the AM newsradio blaring, my mother turned on the lights, shook me awake, said something to the effect of "they're dead, they're all dead!" My mother was never a parent who knew how to wake you up nice and calmly, is there any wonder I am not a morning person? So she gives me the horrible details- there was no breaking it to me gently. By the time I got to the KH that morning, I was so grief stricken I remember putting my hands over my ears when they announced it from the platform. I don't remember her talking to me at any point about my feelings or how I was handling it either.
Fast forward to when I was about 13, a male childhood friend who may have been about 16 was killed. We grew up together in the same KH, he was best friends with the brother of my best friend. I was crying and I told my mother that he died and she said, "what, were you sleeping with him?" Mind you I was 13 years old, hadn't even kissed a boy. So no comfort from my mother.
Those are just 2 examples. Does anyone else have experiences like these? Is it common among some JWs to have a strange response to death?
