I was reading onacruise's story about the anticipation of 1975 and it really clicked this time. It clicked before, but not like this.
How many of you have had friends or relatives urge you to buy a stock or some other investment because "It is gonna go sky high!"? How many of you believe that being a JW requires total emotional attachment to the WTS? Or vice-versa, how many believe it takes a logical or sensical approach to maintain total trust in the WTS? I would guess that most would say it is the emotional attachment that JW's live by. If you followed logic and did your due dilligence on the WTS, you wouldn't be a JW. Simple as that.
I know that there are some who are reading this that have been in this situation: Your best friend knows that you dabble a little in the stock market. This friend recently bought $20k of one particular stock, his entire savings. He "heard" that it was going to go throught the roof in the next couple of weeks. Being such a good friend, he excitedly tells you all about this company and what it is planning to release to the public in the coming weeks. He explains that this company has spent most of its money on reseach and development and with the release of the product, they will make all of their money back. You agree that this product sounds really good and that it could probably do very well in the marketplace. With mounting pressure from your friend to "buy at this level," you decide to empty your savings account as well and buy as much stock as possible. You now sit and wait for the coming annoucement from the company.
Two weeks pass by. No announcement. You begin to get worried because the financial analysts are starting to bad mouth the company for not releasing their product yet. Other investors are also worried that this product may not see the light of day. They start to sell off their shares. The stock price begins to fall fast. It then falls below the price you paid for your shares. But your friend reiterates that this product will change the way people live. He says it would be foolish to jump ship now - you would lose money. Both of you would lose money. He says he's in it for the long haul no matter what happens. By now, you have convinced yourself too that this product would change the way people live their lives. You are now emotionally attached to the stock. You constantly think about this stock day and night. You have already passed the point of losing money. You might as well wait it out and see what happens.
Rumors begin circulating that the company is running into issues due to manufacturing. It seems that the product cannot be made, and henceforth, will not be released to the public. The other remaining institutions and investors dump the stock relegating it to the penny stock trough. But you and your friend feel deep down that they can pull out of this and release the product in due time. In fact, you feel so strongly about them coming out of this, that you ask your parents to loan you money so that you can buy more shares at this very low price. You even talk your parents into buying too. You explain to them that they are the lucky ones because they can get in on it so cheap. They also buy because their son knows what he is doing.
It just hit the wires. Not good. The company has just declared bankruptcy, chapter 7. Oh shit. It seems the product will never be released now. Your gut is churning. You just lost your entire savings plus the money that your parents loaned you. Your friend is no where to be found. He doesn't answer his phone. "What the hell am I going to tell my wife?"
Did you catch the analogy? What Product are JW's emotionally invested in so heavily that they insist on going down with the ship no matter what happens? The Company is faltering, but the JW's refuse to take notice and get out. The Product is just around the corner - it could be released anyday now. But if they get out now, they lose out on any profits if the Product is released.
I wish I could have used this analogy in a #4 talk.