Are you marked for life?

JH

For those who were witnesses, and passed many years there, do you feel as if you are scarred for life by this experience?

(For me) I don't know if "scarred" is the right word. Certainly, affected, and maybe a few scrapes and bruises. I do think though that it will have "affected" (have an influence on) me for the rest of my life. I don't see how it could not. I was in a long long time.

Inkie

jesusstolemyhotrod

absolutley

the memories sometimes are all to real......i grew up feeling very alone.....just plain empty.....the fear of disapointing people i believed truly cared about me was overwhelming.....i found out later they didn't care.....that self preservation and standing was all they cared about.....when i was growing up there was a huge scandal in our area and lots of young people got in trouble.....there were all sorts of brothers meeting nightly with the young people in judgemental committees......i will never forget that......watching friends being conviced to rat on friends to try save themselves......having my father trying to convince me the best thing to do was spill the beans on everyone else to show my repentence and conformity.....it was horrible.....it did not matter.....siblings ratted on each other.....friends that i had all my life turned on me to save themselves......all in the name of what.....i still don't know

freedom96

Growing up as a witness, I certainly have experienced and seen things I wish I hadn't. Will I let this get to me and hinder me in my life? Absolutely not. I have the power to make my life what it is now, and what it will be, and to allow the WTS to control the rest of my life would be a waste.

truthseekers2

Unfortunately, yes. I can only hope the pain gets duller as time goes on.

What breaks my heart is seeing our children suffer as they witness the way JW family and friends are treating us now. It's been really bad. We've received threats (legal action against us), hate filled emails, and then the lies that are spreading about us are just unbelievable.

Our kids range in ages from toddler to preteen. Thankfully the toddler is blissfully ignorant of all that is happening! The rest of us aren't sleeping at night and are really shook up over the recent events.

We are looking forward to getting past this and moving on with our lives, but I know we will always have this vivid scar and memories that will never go away.

Edited by - truthseekers2 on 22 January 2003 13:3:45

Nosferatu

Hard for me to decide on that one. It was enough that my mother was abusive to me. The JW religion added even more to it. I wasn't just getting beaten up at home no more, it was also happening at school. It happened at school because I was taking a stand for Jehovah, and I was supposed to stand out (by wearing ugly clothes). Having been hit by so many people in my life has affected me psychologically. I've been able to fix a lot of it up, however there are some things that still remain from my experience. It's kinda weird that you don't know that they exist, until different people continually point them out to you. I'm much better at dealing with them now than when I first discovered them.

However, I will not go through life with a "poor me" attitude. There's better things to do than trying to make people feel sorry for you.

TresHappy

It would be wonderful to totally ignore my journey in the WT, however that would be impossible. I am not marked for life as I have gone on with my own journey sans Watchtower, but I will always be affected some way, maybe in the most subtle of ways.

moana

The best thing I found is reading posts ya'all share & stories of how we're grown. I know growing up knocking on doors was definately not a good time, but when I boil it down - it could've been worse. I hated the teachings from my teen years till I could get out the home. Now I have no family relationships, but I have done nothing that could ever warrant that kind of treatment. They are not about LOVE they are about FEAR. It kills me how they get all panicky about things like taking mega doses of vitamins, aluminum & getting mercury fillings taken out your teeth. Eyes rolling.....

Everytime I cruise in - someone posts what was on my brain -- How do you do that??????

moana

DiscoSandy

The open wounds have healed but I have plenty of battle scars that I will never get rid of. I want to spend more time helping other people heal their wounds and less time looking at my own scars in the mirror.

LB

Changed for life certainly but I'm doing very well. Some of the change are very much for the good. Such as my distrust for any organization. That's healthy I think.

Are you marked for life?

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