Posted by Michael on January 05, 2004 at 09:56:22
In Reply to: Re: the truth!!! posted by Blondie on January 03, 2004 at 14:06:07:
Hi Blondie,
thanks for answering to my post. I myself have been in the family 22 years and have seen a lot.
There has been a lot that has happened.
I do not want to miscredite or put things in a bad light what some people went through.
Granted a lot of things happened that weren't so nice.
Especially when there was the tougher and tighter sheperding before the charter. Single people (sheperds) were given a lot of authority over large districts and places. they were often not completely in touch with all of the homes and what all the single people needed. So far reaching decisions were often made which weren't maybe the best for the individual person or home.
that way some people weren't treated in the best way.
That wasn't very nice. That's why the charter came out to give the homes and individuals more rights and freedoms and to more specifically describe the rights members have.
When we are on earth we all encounter difficulties. There are no Utopias. Not in the family and also not out in society.
The main thing I want to stress is even though bad things have happened and maybe some of them have even been very hurting it's up to us how to react to them and to keep on going.
What goes on around us is often out of our control but how we react is up to us.
i currently am also not "in".
But when I look back to my time in the family or the COG I think of a happy time. Of course there were difficult times and times that could be called "mishandling" such as getting wrong punishments but that happens all over the place.
if you look around in the world it's normal that people are mistreated and mobbed when working. there's child abuse at every corner. There are so many things that are going wrong.
so you can't jugde by a utopian standard on the one hand when you look at the family and then on the other hand have no expectations when you look at society or the rest of the world.
And of course everyone has the right to be heard and to say his opinion. but on the other hand people who are "in" should be left to lived there lives to make free decisions.
I hope you have a good new year. Take care of yourself.