TheRebel ... as an adult, my parents could never engage much in discussion with me as they couldn't refute what I had to say. It would always end with the stunned silence and deer-in-the-headlights look from them. I assume this comes, at least in part, from the Borg's coaching not to continue engaging in discussion for fear it would stumble my parents. It was sad to watch my parents devolve. Their logic became broken, their critical thinking skills diminished. It bothered me a lot that they let their wishes override evidence. Wanting something to be true does not mean that it is.
As for pedophiles, Dad knew they were in the Borg. There is one in his previous congregation. Of course now, my Mom is dead, Dad doesn't even know what day it is, ties his shoelaces into numerous knots, and pours his soup into his shoes at lunch. Dementia is a bitch.
At least I don't have to listen to 'Heaven, the time is so short now. You need to become a Witness or risk dying at Armageddon and your eternal life.' Close to 50 years of listening to 'Armageddon is imminent' gets old real fast, equating this failed prophecy time and again to 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' fable. This rant becomes ineffectual over time and, as I pointed out to my Dad, the JW's lose credibility. In 2009 I finally told my Dad outright that I wasn't going to be a Witness. He was pushing me to join. The excuse du jour that Armageddon was closer than the inside of my eyelids was the terrible economy. I think he was very sad when I told him outright I wouldn't join. But man, 46 years and I hadn't joined up I think says something.
I have always been there to support my folks, though, and show them love as much as was and is possible.
As one of the Alzheimer's Society's support workers told me "Love transcends the dementia barrier."
