(Via Isabelle)
I was 5 years old the first time the Witnesses came to my home and spoke to my parents. I don’t remember how many times they came back, but it seemed all to quickly that my mother suddenly threw out all of our holiday decorations and I was told I couldn’t have birthdays anymore. Suddenly I had to take strange pamphlets with me to school to explain to my teachers what I was. I didn’t get to participate in any holiday activities. I was made to go to these boring meetings and day long conventions and sit and listen to things I didn’t understand. I felt so left out of everything. I wasn’t permitted to have birthdays, or to go to any parties. When I was 10 my mom allowed me to play on a soccer team at school, but I was instructed to keep it a secret. As I approached my teens I became very frightened about how good I was being, and I was so afraid of upsetting Jehovah and going to hell that I tried to do extra good, and became obsessive about my actions. I was terrified, never sure if I was being good enough. I was told when the new paradise came that all of my memories of former friends and relatives who weren’t witnesses would be completely erased. Upon reaching the age of 15, and in the middle of reading “The Crucible” in school, I realized the witnesses for what they truly are. I refused to go to any more meetings and have since set out on my own spiritual path. I am much happier now. I wish my parents had never been witnesses, and I will never put my children through such trauma.