I was also a "good girl," so I never really had many visits with the elders. I once requested a meeting with the elders, after finding out that my oldest brother was gay. I was devastated, because of the JW teaching that he would be destroyed in Armageddon. I asked the elders for help in dealing with the realization that he would die. I can't remember exactly what they said. The main elder (my favorite in the hall) was very loving and tried to comfort me. The bad part came when I left the room where we were having our discussion. When the remaining JW's in the hall saw that I had been meeting with the elders and had a tear-stained face, they believed that I had done something wrong. One of my "friends" kept questioning me over and over about why I was crying, if I hadn't done anything wrong. Until that moment, I hadn't even considered the fact that the meeting *I* called would lead to gossip.

"I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief"

~ Gerry Spence ~