It's been a long haul.
CG
What's The Worst Experience You've Ever Had To Deal With In Your Life?
by minimus 66 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
It's amazing how fine Christian Jehovah's Witness families can be so horrible.
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gumby
It's amazing how fine Christian Jehovah's Witness families can be so horrible.
It has always amazed me how a group can hold certain values so high.......and yet lack other values so miserably, ........and still think they are better than their fellowman. In other words, a witness could be a child molester that hasn't got caught yet, and this same man has the conscience to shun a disfellowshipped person.
These threads expose the worst case scenarios for sure,.....but they also prove the reality that dubs are as screwed up as non-dubs.
Gumby
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Lady Lee
((((to all who have suffered so greatly)))
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franklin J
My exit from the JWs was painful and drawn out...but is far enough away from me (20 years ago) so as not to be a threat any longer...
compared to some of the previous posted--and I think it took great courage to share some of those stories- my life has been mild.
Three years ago I was in an elevator in a high rise in NYC with 8 other people when the elevator cable broke and the elevator dropped slowly into free fall---the emergency "governor" brakes caught the cab and tilted it in the shaft at a 15 degree list. For 2 hours we all tried to be brave as the cab hung on--we shared life stories. the cab continued to shift and gave us concern that the brakes may not hold. ( It was an old building). As an architect who has designed a few high rises in NYC; I knew that this was not supposed to happen, and that there are safety measures to hold the cab in place until help would arrive. Sharing this info with the others was, to some extent, a reinforcement to myself that this would all end ok....but being in the experience is somewhat different...we all found a way to mask our fear...I could only think to myself that this was it ( what a way to go!)
One of the other guys in the cab was a photo journalist who had just returned from a safari in Africa where the Rwandan military guerillas had kidnapped the expedition and slaughtered half of them and let the other half live-including him-to tell the world. He was in this building to have a photo book published about his safaris. He was very courageous and said " hell, if I could survive that I am not afraid of a NY elevator."
His courage was a support to all of us. Another person in the cab was a woman 8 or 9 months pregnant, she was as scared as the rest of us; and repeatedly kept talking about the impending birth and how she really wanted this child. It was clear to all that her words were more consolation and support to herself about the tenuous situation we were all in...and we all understood, and shared the enthusiasm with her.
I do not recall the detail of the other stories, but the two I noted were the most poignant and reflect the urgency of the moment.
When the Fire Department forced the doors open, the floor of the cab was about 5 feet above the floor and we had to "jump" down, one at a time. Women first, and the last two to leave was me and the photo journalist. He just pushed me out and followed. None of us bothered to look back ( jaded New Yorkers!) we headed for the stairs and walked down to the lobby and back onto the street where the city life did not even skip a beat.
Our lives ( mine and I believe the others) had been altered somewhat by thinking we might drop to our deaths at any moment; and that the control of the situation was beyond our ability to do anything to help ourselves. But after the situation we never looked back--perhaps to subconsciously hide the fact that it ever happend? That we sophisticated New Yorkers ( and I use that term sarcastically) could ever be reduced to such a state of fear and lack of control of our fate. The events of 9/11 taught us another lesson...(but that is another story).
I saw the photo journalist on a TV special ,3 weeks later where he described his African kidnapping...he did not mention the elevator episode in NYC.
Frank
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minimus
Frank, what a very interesting story! If I was in that elevator, I know I would've thought the worst. When help came, I'd be right behind the pregnant lady.......That situation would be quite frightening as I don't like high open spaces. Being confined in a box with a bunch of people at an angle would be horrifying.....I'm glad you were able to share your story.
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CC Ryder
Watching two wonderful people bleed to death because they refused blood.
The first incident was our bookstudy conductors wife. I was assistant conductor. She had a tough prgnancy, was 38 years old and already had 5 children. After giving birth she began to hemmorrage. The hospital staff pleaded with them for her to take blood, they refused of course. So the doctors just packed her with gauze and said that was all they could do. The next day she died leaving a new child without a mother.
The second incident involved a very close friend. He was very overweight, had heart trouble and was taking medicine for his condition. He was also a heavey drinker. His Pancreas burst. I was with him when he died. It was in the same Hospital and they did the same thing as the sister who died. Pumped him with pain killers and said..that's all we can do. I had to go wake up his mother and father in the e of the night to tell them their son had just died.
Having to tell Tink her father had just shot himself in the head in front of her mother one month after we were married. Watching him on a ventalator for six hours until they were legally able to remove him from it. Watching the pain and mental anguish Tink goes through dealing with his suicide.
CC
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shamus
Jesus! These stories are real downers. OMG, I have been through nothing compared to you all!
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minimus
Shamus, threads like these can help us keep things in perspective, can't they???
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got my forty homey?
My story started in Bethel where this little pain of the ass go getter kept getting me in trouble, always following me around reporting anything bad I did to the Department Overseer. For all his troubles he got promoted and now he became my boss, even though I didn't care i had my own work to do to keep busy. Anyway one day after work he saw me operating a piece of equipment that I was authorized to use however it was after work hours so I was asked to leave Bethel. The same day a sister that I was dating(courting) was with a worldly guy hugging and kissing him in a local laundramant. When I confronted her about it she stated they were just friends or some BS. Anyway that night my angry Elder father laid down the law, no bethel then you must continue in the full time service or leave the house. I elected leaving the house. Now with no real education wasting it all in bethel and pioneering I had to resort to driving a yellow taxi in NYC at the age of 20. Being like Jon Vioght in Midnight Cowboy I quickly became overwhelmed by hustlers, hookers, drug users and I succumbbed to crack addiction which in two short years had me living in the subways with nothing but the clothing on my back. So I beg my parents to come back home and they let me, of course i had to confess my sins to the local body of Elders and I got DF'd. After being with my parents for about a month they wanted me to sit in on the Watchtower study. I said HELL NO, this is why I left in the first place 2 years earlier. So back on the streets on went, but with help from new friends and my new wife i conquered the drug addiction and have a pretty normal life now if thats what you want to call it.
Now tell me if it weren't for this damn JW's do you think I would have had such a miserable meaningless nightmare of an existence. I know of worldly kids who grew up with me who are succesful business people, police officers, etc. And here a JW boy who was a virgin till 20 doesn't amount to shit.