Alright, so I posted earlier this week about my desire to put together some sort of campaign to target the friends and family that shun us before the Regional Convention part on shunning. My goal is to produce a postcard that can be mailed out to those that shun us to contrast shunning and love before it is cemented in their minds this summer. I want to make them think twice. Shunning is one hole in the armor because everyone has basic humanity within even if it is covered with JW doctrine.
I also want to make them see what shunning does, and that they are the ones responsible for it, as it is an act carried out by them. JW's like to talk about the devastating effects that it has on them but they never even look at what they're doing to others. I know that realizing what I was doing to my brother by shunning him was a huge part of my journey in waking up.
There is sooooooo much that I want to say on the subject of shunning, but I can't say it all. Our friends and family won't read some long diatribe. I sat down and wrote so many different things and nothing flowed until the poem that came out below. It just came to me without trying, something that often helps me see that I must be letting some feelings out, something I wanted to do with this.
So, let me know what you think of what I've written. I'm hoping that it, if written on a postcard with something to catch their eye, will be read by the recipient. Poems aren't everyone's thing, but can be hard to put down if you get a glimpse and they apply to you in some way. I've tried to hit both the Bible's view of love and contrast it with shunning.
Is this something you'd send to your parents, siblings, friends, etc. that shun you if put on a postcard. I like postcards because you can't not read them. They will catch your eye without any effort from you when you pull them from your mailbox. Let me know what you think. I have to admit to feeling a little vulnerable putting a poem out there like this, but it is what it is and flowed from the heart and I hope it might be of use. I hope my formatting sticks here:
God is love
Love is kind
Why would you choose to
Leave your loved ones behind
If you greet your brothers only
What extraordinary thing have you done
Forgive up to seventy seven times
Never did Jesus shun
As kids we weren't given choices
There was pressure to decide
Shunning due to child baptism
Leads many to suicide
My relationship with God
Is mine, not of your own
So what right do you have
To choose to disown
Shunning is emotional blackmail
The opposite of love
It is control exercised by man
Painful for all, not reflective of God above
We are the shunned
The loved ones you shame
You are the ones that shun
We will not accept the blame.
