I felt like making a controversial topic. We always talk about the negative stuff about jw's and for very good reason! however, nothing is ever black and white and I opine there were benefits in growing up or being a jw. So I wanted to start a thread, and as usual please feel free to chime in, where we discuss the positive aspects. I feel this is a good exercise in moving on, not being so bitter that we cannot see anything positive at all, but instead seeing it as a life experience that could and should be learned from (as is every other life experience, blessing or tragedy). For some, especially those with more time spent in the org, I would suspect it may be more difficult to find the positives (but I would love to be proven wrong).
Looking back, I did find a few things I liked growing up a JW. For one thing, I am actually very thankful for making the stance not to "pledge allegiance" to the flag. The reason however is different than why JW's dont do it, I like that I didnt do it for more than one reason. I know many had horrible experiences with this issue, and it wasnt easy for me at times neither but it did teach me a valuable lesson. Its okay to be different. Accepting being different has always been very important to me and I do not shy away from saying something that may not be popular. Much more importantly however (impo) is the fact that I was not forced to pledge allegiance to an entity I knew nothing about (lets ignore I did it to a different group of much less deserving people for the moment). The third reason Im happy about it is that it while in high school (while still a jw) it became more of a stance for separation of church and state. I found it easier to argue "im for seperation of c and s" than to say "im a jw and jesus said to be no part of the world" (cognitive dissonance much?) Im not exactly sure if I am comfortable saying the pledge now because I do not wish to pledge allegiance to any nation (not a jw perspective, much more a humanitarian one) but even if I would be willing to pledge allegiance, I would refuse to say "under god" (which was added to the pledge during the 50's red commie scare).
One other thing im happy about is something that I suspect might not be a common response... in a weird convoluted way it helped me to think skeptically. Finally (dont wanna get too long here) it helped with public speaking. I actually became pretty comfortable in front of large groups of people and I think its a valuable trait. Also not believing in hell was assuring (although believing in Armageddon wasnt!) Okay, thats enough from me for now. So now, lets now take another page from the watchtower and turn to the "what did you learn" box
... your turn.
One other thing im happy about is something that I suspect might not be a common response... in a weird convoluted way it helped me to think skeptically. Finally (dont wanna get too long here) it helped with public speaking. I actually became pretty comfortable in front of large groups of people and I think its a valuable trait. Also not believing in hell was assuring (although believing in Armageddon wasnt!) Okay, thats enough from me for now. So now, lets now take another page from the watchtower and turn to the "what did you learn" box
... your turn.
