Have you ever heard the expression "they did the best they could with the tools they had"? (The first time I did, I wanted to puke on the shoes of the one who said it.)

Over time I came to see that, from the perspective of my mother, raising her child to be a good JW was the best upbringing possible. (That goes to show the rotten childhood she had!) Dad, a thinking man, didn't like the stifling controls of The Organization so one morning he left both us and it. He didn't want me around for fear I, as a JW, would start preaching to his friends.

In self-defense, I learned to say what people wanted to hear while living a double life. Hating my own dishonesty, I began the fight for personal freedom. (LOL! Reminds me of an old poster where an tiny mouse is giving the finger to one very large elephant.) I don't have to tell you the outcome of any one-woman war with Watchtower authorities.

Here's the deal...growing up JW stank!

I started school right after WWII. My teachers were the wives and widows of veterans, my classmates were their kids. I was the lone JW whose mother had told school authorities I refused to salute the flag. [SHE was the JW-- I was just a kid learning to spell.] When I cried to my mother about the mistreatment I got for that, she glowed with delight that I was "being percecuted for Jehovah's name sake". [Gee, thanks, Mom.]

Every stinking area of my childhood was blighted by rules of The Watchtower. She preached so incessantly to her relatives about their up-coming destruction they didn't want us around. I lost all contact with the hords of my maternal cousins and today, I wouldn't know them if they knocked on my door.

Once I was asked what I would do differently if I had the chance to live my life over. My answer--which came so easily it surprised me--was "I'd negotiate to be born 21 years old".

You're are right. Raised in the truth, we were not given any skills to help us get along in the world let alone be successful. But their own abilities couldn't have been much better or they would never have gotten sucked into such a far-out relilgion as Jehovah's Witnesses in the first place.

That said, I think I gained a lot of strengths through the adversity I experienced. Although, LOL, they aren't necessarily the things those 'fine' brothers had in mind:

Being disfellowshipped can be one of life's greatest blessings.

When you respect yourself, the fact that others don't makes little difference.

Pain is often precedes a wonderful new life.

Organizations exist to perpetuate themselves. (Just why did you think that "Keeping the Organization Clean" is so imporatant for the WTBTS?)

There must be a special place in hell for those who claim to speak for God.

Life is blessing.

The world is a beautiful place.

Today is the day that the Lord has made--play your part with joy and courage.

Hugs, Cee Cee