What to do when you see young lives being wasted?

by shotgun 10 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  shotgun

  A young pioneer elder I know informed me that he and his wife have been accepted at Bethel.

  He's a brilliant young man with a promising future where he is employed. The job he currently has is as safe and secure as they come and is well above the average income.

  In a short period of time he'll throw that all away to go and serve at Bethel.

  He's expressed to me in the past the desire for children which they will also forgo until the new system.

  I've almost expressed my true feeling to him several times but felt that because of his positon in the congregation and his family history of faithful missionaries and bethelites that he would not only label me as a dangerous apostate but also instigate Judicial action.

  I guess I've answered my own question with the last statement. It just makes me feel sick to allow him make such an uninformed decision which will affect the rest of his life.

  Have any of you been faced with similar circumstances?

  Sleepless in BC..Shotgun
• 

  calamityjane

  That's just sad. Your right, there is nothing you can say to them. They're so indoctrinated with this crap that they can't see the light. The fact that he has a secure job and voiced his opinion of wanting children, that has all gone down the drain. Makes me want to
• 

  Yerusalyim

  What to do when you see young lives being wasted?

  I quit looking in the mirror.

  No really, that's sad. So much wasted potential.
• 

  Gopher

  It's hard to read minds. Maybe their minds have been completely subverted into thinking that a Bethel career with no retirement benefits is the best for them in the long run. After all, they're serving for the "carrot" offered by the organization, life in the JW-only new world.

  On the other hand, you can retain small hope that maybe they'll tire of life near Georgetown, Ontario and begin to see it isn't all it's cracked up to be. Maybe they'll come back home after that. I've seen people leave "da troof" immediately after their Bethel service was up.

  But if they're the type of folks with rose-colored glasses firmly attached, there's not much you can do except hope.
• 

  Nosferatu

  Wait till he sees what Bethel is really like. He'll need to learn from his mistakes.
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  franklin J

  yes, Shotgun, I know how you feel

  I was in that position over 25 years ago, and I decided to leave Pioneering full time and pursue an education and a career in the "World" . I have never looked back and never regretted my decision. After my college years and at the beginning of my career, I married a nice "worldly" girl . That was 17 years ago, and I am still happily married with 3 kids. Life is what WE make it.

  The JW boys ( and girls) I grew up with ( some were pioneers with me, some not so theocratic) who "shunned" me because I left the faith, and who to this day will not speak to me; most of them married very young and got divorced and went on to live miserable lives. They had the same decision and made a choice, many years ago, just like me.

  If I see young people now going door to door, I can only shake my head and wish them well. Chances are they will not listen to any of us. That religion makes people do crazy things.

  Frank
• 

  Dawn

  Perhaps information on the "truth" about the truth could miraculously appear on his car, in his mail box, or on his door step - anonymously. That way your conscience would feel better that you have provided the information, but you won't be jepordizing your own situation.
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  Stacy Smith

  This guy and his wife are lost. As you said he's young and already and elder and now a new career at bethal. He's a goner. As long as he keeps moving up the society ladder he will be happy.

  I'll be the apostate in the new red vette in a couple of years, woe is me.
• 

  Mysterious

  Well it's not quite the same thing but I've seen it in my own life.

  My mother, for example. She works, she takes care of the house, she studies. That's it. She doesn't do anything for fun. She doesn't do anything to relax. She knows this and admits this. She almost wears it like a badge of honor. She projects it as the normal life "in this system"

  Another girl I know just graduated school. She had honor roll marks. She has no plans to go to college. Right now she is working part time for minimum wage while pioneering.

  A girl that used to live here decided to learn another language and move where the need was greater. That kind of brain could have been put to so many other uses!

  I've just learned to worry about me as selfish as that sounds. I agree with what my father said once, you can't get anyone else out they have to do it for themselves. I just try to be there especially for my friend who is teetering on the edge. I wish he'd make the "right" decision and get out.
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  Poztate

  In a short period of time he'll throw that all away to go and serve at Bethel.

  Yes they will go away and waste their lives or the prime portion of it. This is a tragedy and I know you feel bad for them. The bottom line is that there is not a damm thing you can do. By the time some one is so brainwashed as to be going to bethel there is no hope of reasoning or talking to them. I think a person has got to start to question their beliefs before any outside influence will change them.Sad but true.