To all my "friends" in the organisation.

by stuckinarut2 41 Replies latest members private

• 

  stuckinarut2

  So I'm sitting here on a sunny morning and thinking...

  To all my friends in the organisation...yes the ones who don't even acknowledge me anymore...I am still the same person. yes, I am the same person that:

  Has known you for decades

  Has watched you grow, marry, have families

  Have been like parents to your children

  Have nursed them when ill

  Have helped you through loss of work, loss of loved ones, loss of homes, loss of health etc

  Have provided you with money, food, lodging, emotional care etc

  Have done your gardening, painted your homes, moved your furniture

  Have taken you to hospitals, doctors, etc

  Have taken your phone calls at midnight, driven out to you when you were in desperate times.

  Have rescued you from natural disaster situations, automobile breakdowns, etc

  Have taken care of your pets, your homes, your businesses while you were away or sick

  Have stood by you in all sorts of life scenarios, and situations...yes been open, loyal and self sacrificing to the extreme

  And yet...here I am....treated like a leper...an outcast...all because I have not attended a meeting for a few months. All because I have conducted thorough and in-depth research into the origins and teachings of "our" faith....and been shocked at things I have found out! I am the one who needs support and has been appaled at things discovered....and yet you cast me aside like we never met....

  I have never said anything to upset you, nor influence you. I have not shared my observations.

  If you have allowed other people's gossip, insinuations or back handed whispering to influence you, then that is sad.

  Well, sorry, but it is not I that have "changed". I am still the same person I always was. My character is the same moral, and honest hearted person I have always been. So, I stand ready to help you as a friend, as a fellow human, as always.

  Live with this knowledge...
• 

  stillin

  (Stick fingers in ears and say) lalalalalalalala,
• 

  Divergent

  I don't have friends in the organization. I only have acquaintances

  While I am not being shunned at the moment, these acquaintances have done little to reach out to me as I fade. I now realize how little I have in common with them! With my "worldly" friends, it's so easy to get a conversation going! I can literally talk to them about ANYTHING without being criticized or judged. However, with these JW acquaintances, things are different. Now that I am fading & no longer am enthusiastic ahout "the truth" & "spiritual things", they don't even know how to talk to me! They do say "Hi", but most of the time that's it! They have no idea at all about what to say to me! Initially, some of them tried to guilt-trip me, but not any more after I responded aggressively. I have had to put up with stupid questions, such as the lamest question "How are you?", which is basically what you say to people when you don't know what else to say! Another stupid question is "Are you ok?" I usually reply by saying: "Of course I'm ok, what do you mean by asking me such a stupid question???" and they apologize & back off. There are a few though, who actually know how to talk to me (to their credit), they find neutral topics to talk about, which I am totally fine with. But beyond that, we have little in common. The majority don't know what to say to me, so I don't talk to them likewise

  It's funny when people you thought were your friends just a little while ago turn out not to be. Fortunately, I have some worldly friends who make up for the lack of friendship within the sorry organization which I am fading from!
• 

  stan livedeath

  So I'm sitting here on a sunny morning and thinking...

  
  

  so--stop moaning--you lucky sod--its pissing down over here
• 

  clarity

  Stuck ........well written! Those "old friends" are so losing out on a great friend. One day at a time is all we can do .... life goes on.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  Stuck:

  We too have been there, done that, and own the T-Shirt.

  It's tough to come to the realization that they were not really friends, isn't it.
  

  Doc
  
• 

  Iown Mylife

  HI, S-2 -

  i loved your list of help your friends received from you. I thought about unappreciative people - then it hit me that maybe people who have received a lot of help from a great friend, actually feel angry that they really owe a lot of gratitude to that friend.

  So then the WT policy of dumping ones who quit the meetings, actually helps ungrateful people off the hook. They don't have to remember how much assistance they received, anymore. They can totally forget the debt of gratitude that they don't want to acknowledge.

  I wonder if this might be why so many otherwise decent adults just cling so tightly to the dumping and shunning philosophy.

  Marina
• 

  My Name is of No Consequence

  I wonder what it's like to have that one true friend. I will probably never know.
• 

  Dissonant15

  Beautifully said.
• 

  sparrowdown

  People, even the best of them, are disposable to JWs.

  They were never real friends and they never really knew you.