I am tired of thinking like a victim....

by Ravyn 34 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Double Edge

  Ravyn...

  Just so you know, last summer, numerous posters got together (clandestine like) and mailed out hundreds of letters that looked like official WTBS correspondence to Kingdom Halls around the country within a two or three week period. It was kind of an underground movement deal, decrying the child abuse issue. Also, a group of people several months ago went to Kingdom Halls around the country and hung on the doors stuffed baby lambs, with a note. The hope was that word of mouth would get around that things were amiss and that opposers were organized. I think that as time progresses, there will probably be much more of this.
• 

  ninecharger

  Please don't be discouraged.

  Keep saying NO

  Eventually someone will say NO at the right time then things will change and no one can stop it.

  Look at the german reformation, the Boston Witch Hunts, the French revolution. Look at the Boer v Watchtower case or the Supreme Court Ruling on Thursday.. We just have to keep saying NO to this, NO to that - it is in the nature of tyrannies that they do fall.

  Journey in hope and the knowledge we all love and truly support each other.
• 

  Ravyn

  how about sending information about the pedophiles and such to the MEDIA? Like legit newspapers and government officials? I don't think attacking KHs will do any good--they expect evil wicked apostates to do that--Satan's persecution. That just feeds their delusions. If I was still a JW I would not have been the slightest bit impressed with a stuffed toy on the KH step. I would have thought a bunch of insane apostates did it, and the first elder on the scene would have picked it up and thrown it out, with 99% of the publishers never seeing it. Then a talk on the Service Meeting about not even looking at apostate literature and we are back to the staus quo.

  I am not devaluing anyone's efforts. Any effort is good effort. And I am not complaining about the ones on this forum who do DO something. I am talking about the THOUSANDS who dont.

  Yesterday I called a newspaper reporter and emailed the FBI. I could not believe on the webpage for Silent Lambs where it is talking about 23,702 cases of child molestation on file at brooklyn that it ended with the sentiment 'if the FBI only knew...' I said WHY THE F DOESNT THE FBI KNOW? So I emailed it to them copied and pasted and referred to the webpage on their email tip hotline. why cant 100 people do that? It would get someone's attention surely!

  We are not going to reform the JWs. Attacking KHs will not get more people out---you KNOW how they think about that! we need to get it out there in the 'world's' face until every time a JW knocks on a door they are challenged about the issues! We need to get it in the hands of every local government so when the JWs apply for permits and try to book conventions they are TURNED DOWN!

  The more I read on this thread the more discouraged I get. Am I crazy? Am I the only one who sees it this way? Did the outraged Catholics and X Catholics waste their time leaving little altar boy dolls on the Cathedral steps?

  ok go ahead flame me. I know-- I am just so cruel and insensitive. yeah well, personally I think I would make a better General than Napoleon did.

  Ravyn Hoo-Ya
• 

  Francois

  Lady Lee you are so right. There was no Internet for me until I was in my 50s. And it has served as nexus for all the ex-JWs in the entire world who are connected, and more and more are getting connected every day. And that is exactly why the WTBTS is so terrified of the Internet.

  It used to be that every exJW was an island unto themselves. I used to work with Richard Hickman putting out a little brochure once a month to 300 people, and we worked our butts off getting that thing out, plus answering the phone, doing interviews and other stuff trying to draw attention to the criminal nature of the Watchtower folk.

  Now, with the Internet, no man is an island (sorry). And with a tenth of the effort we put out, we can reach thousands more people, and the dark, slithering nature of the WTBTS is becoming known. We can tell we're having an effect by the way the WT is reacting in their publications and in their talks. It's like we say in the south - It's the stuck pig that squeals.

  Keep on squealing WT. We all know it's you that's the pig.
• 

  Lady Lee

  As double edge pointed out some rather well organized campaings have been conducted. And the media was often called in to report on the hanging of lambs on doors. A lto of this is on the silentlambs website. Bill orchestrated a lot of it. And a lot of people around the country followed suit. If you do a search there is a lot of posts here about it too.

  I hear your frustration about those who don't. I feel it too sometimes

  But then I remember a time when I couldn't do anything. Even now there are times I need to step back and take care of me before I divert my attention doing for others

  I could be wrong but when Bill organized the March last year I think I recall on the media and certainly in some of the pictures that there was a request for the FBI to get involved. Problem is that this is a world wide problem. So just getting the FBI involved won't solve anything. The "list" includes I think pedophiles from Eng Can and the US

  In the last year we have had world wide attention to these issues. It is working.

  Yes more can be involved. Give them time to heal a bit. Getting involved too early in the recovery process just makes it harder to do their own healing work. When ready most people want to do something - even if it is a small thing

  And when you think about it - just posting a person's story here for others to see is a beginning.

  (((Ravyn))) Let the force be with you
• 

  Prisca

  Yes more can be involved. Give them time to heal a bit. Getting involved too early in the recovery process just makes it harder to do their own healing work. When ready most people want to do something - even if it is a small thing

  Wise words from a wise woman.

  I think I am still in the healing/recovery stage. Not that I am hurting alot, but I am slowly making my way back to the top. I am enjoying life, although ill health and other troubles sometimes put me back. I have made changes to my life so that I can enjoy my ex-jw life more, and I am making adjustments as I see fit.

  I would love to be able to do something to help others. But at the moment I don't think I could without hurting myself. I just don't have the energy or time. Nor the emotional health. As I said in a previous post, I feel I have given the WTS 30 yrs of my life, and I want my life back. And I want to enjoy that life, without my time and energies being taken up with fighting the WTS.

  In time, I think I will be able to reach out to others who need me. Perhaps a local ex-jw group for those who want to meet other ex-jws, something like MeetUp. We'll see.

  Another thought:

  Not that I want to sound negative, but sometimes I feel this board rewards self-pitying behaviour, and doesn't encourage pro-active behaviour enough. I'm not talking about when a major problem comes up in a person's life, but just the mind-set that "the WTS is evil and corrupt, boo, it's so bad, negative, negative, negative". Concentrating on the negative, rather than the positives in our lives, only reinforces such negativity, making it our focus.

  If we focused on the positives in our life more, we might see that our life improves for the good. Rather than focusing on the fact that someone doesn't talk to us, focus on the fact that we are now free to choose who we want to talk and associate with. Rather than focus on lost opportunities, focus on the opportunities that we have gained since we left.

  Is the glass half-empty or half-full? It's all a matter of perspective.
• 

  berylblue

  Your point is well taken, Robyn, but I am really too physically, emotionally and intellectually weak right now to do much of anything but hold a mindless job, clean, and shop on ebay.

  I do whine, I'm sorry., I know.

  Rosemarie
• 

  Lady Lee

  Beryl

  I'm sorry., I know

  I am so proud of you - *grinning ear to ear*

  Admitting you have to take care of yourself because you have been hurt is nothing to feel bad about. It is something to rejoice that you recognize it
• 

  Lady Lee

  Prisca well said

  Now take care
• 

  onacruse

  This is a great thread. Real feelings, from real people facing real challenges: self-pity, denial, frustration, anger, taking care of self even as we try to take care of others.

  Ravyn, hang in there. The "slow and natural" process is the way life is. People evolve, gradually, and only very very rarely do we jump over to a new mindset in one single moment. There is more happening in the org, at the grass roots level, than either you or I have even imagined. Not necessarily doctrines, or policies, but just "how the people are." Subtle things, like how much applause there is (not) at assemblies. Pernicious things, like how few young JWs are becoming pioneers (or, even getting baptized). Family things, like how many JWs flagrantly defy the WTS policy about how to treat DFd family members. Social things, like voting.

  The times, they are a'changin.

  Craig