Joe, your post was very well done, very well-written and revealing. Ya done good.
I suppose you are awaiting the unannounced visits by your former buddies, the elders. When I was leaving, I one time did what you report doing: I hid from them. As soon as they were gone, I thought to myself, "Look at the powerr you've given these ignorant people over you, they've got you hiding in your own home." And I promised myself I would never do that again, that I would take back every particle of power I had ever given the JWs. The next time they came like that, I opened the door and let them tell me all about how they wanted to talk to me about my lack of meeting attendance. Then I told them that attempting to ambush me in my own home by coming unannounced like a thief in the night was unacceptable and would be considered rude and crude by even worldly people. Then I told them they could not come in, that it was inconvenient for me, that when I was ready to discuss anything with them I would be certain to call them and for them not to contact me again. After I got that out of my mouth, one of them started to "overcome my objection" to their visit and I merely closed the door in their faces and turned the porch light off.
I eventually met with them, more to demonstrate who was holding the power than for any other reason, but all our meetings were done on my schedule which I made as inconvenient as I knew how (one of them worked shift and I discovered which shift he was on...you take it from there). When we had our first meeting, the first thing out of my mouth was, "I don't recognize that you have the moral authority to demand answers to your questions from me as long as you tolerate the presence of C.B. on the body of elders, as he is as guilty of "skinning the sheep" as any elder I have ever seen. Until you clean up your own house, you can come over and chat if you like, but we're not about to get into any deep discussion concerning anything about me while C.B. remains an elder in this congregation." Their reaction was one of the funniest things I've ever seen they looked at each other like someone who had loudly farted during the prayer at a funeral. It was priceless. My leaving the JWs was actually kinda fun because of stuff like that. I guess the difference was that I had a secret they didn't know about. They thought I gave a big shit about being DFed, when in fact I couldn't have cared less. The very second you want something from another human or group of humans, you make yourself their slave, and I had had enough of them and their BS.
Anyway, thank you so much for your story. I feel certain that many people will find it helpful in their own struggle to get out of the Borg. I hope you will hang out here with us for awhile and have some fun and do some more good for others who suffer from the heavy yoke and the hard labor of being a Watchtower Slave.
francois.
