Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later. One of the two Witnesses who work at my office called me last night, delicately mentioned that she had "heard" I was celebrating birthdays and Christmas and wanted to know what the hell was going on. Or substance. I told her exactly what was going on and she didn't like it - tried the usual platitudes about imperfect humans and looking at the organization as a whole. I told her that's exactly what I was doing and that Jesus said "by their fruits you will know them," and this was a bunch of rotten fruit. She then asked me what congregation I went to. UH-OH!!!! So I told her. Might as well get it over with. I fully expect to have a phone call or a visit one of these days by a couple of "concerned" elders who want to "help." Maybe I'll put alligators in the moat.
She finished the conversation by saying, "well, you can believe whatever you want, but please don't make trouble for the rest of us" (i.e., her and the other Witness). Which, of course, means don't talk bad about the Witnesses even if it's all true and it's giving me migraines and sending me to a therapist. Oh no, we have to make the poor little Witnesses comfortable in that big bad worldly office. I just told her to tell people that I no longer considered myself one of Jehovah's Witnesses and we ended the conversation.
So today I have a whopper migraine but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of not seeing me today. I told the Office Manager, who is a personal friend of mine, and two of my bosses about the phone call and they are outraged. I suppose the two JWs will shun me now, but it's not like we were bosom buddies before anyway.
To quote a Monty Python skit: "It's people like [them] wot cause unrest." And: "Come look at the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!"
Nina (of the I-Need-A-Valium Class)