Posted by John W. Wirtanen on March 16, 1999 at 11:43:42 {MWC0MmSi7Fw5c}:
In Reply to: To Ex-JW's:Difficulty posted by Gari on March 16, 1999 at 09:21:10:
For me, it was knowing how to make friends. When one is a Dub, you have "instant" friends. (Actually, superficial friends in many instances, more like instant acquaintances.) Not being "in the world" and being strongly discouraged to have any friends outside of "The Friends", one doesn't develop the social skills necessary to develop friendships if one's raised in the Dubz. If one comes into it after childhood, the longer one is in it, the more these skills tend to atrophy.
Yet, although I made a few mistakes in who I thought were friends after I left the Organization, I developed true friends who were actually much more "there" for me than any JW ever was, AND without the conditionality of friendship that
comes along with the JWs, i.e., follow the Organization hook, line, and sinker, or else I can't be your friend.