Posted by Acheick (post restored) on November 18, 2004 at 13:58:15
Hi everyone. Thanks so much to you who so kindly responded to my farewell letter with so many thoughtful and kind words of wisdom and good will. It was very refreshing. For those of you who do not have the letter and would like it, you can email me and if you don't have my email address you can email me at
Firstly, I read some of the responses here. One person explained my departure as a disagreement about politics and whatnot between Carol and me. For starters, that is not even it in a nutshell, that is watering the issue down so much that there is no context left. Apparently, some people have not really paid attention or just flat out don't care. It is so much more than that. And of course, most people are going to know something was up when two boards were abruptly shut down without much of an explanation.
What it really came down to is that I felt I no longer had a voice in the day to day operations on the staff and that what I had envisiioned for this site had been hijacked and become something else entirely.
My intention here is not to start up another war (as some people love to fondly refer to any difference of opinion) or cause any more headaches for the coordinators, however, I would like to clarify my feelings without having some annonymous poster whittle it down to one sentence. That trivilatizes my feelings and only adds to the insult and hurt.
Most of the posters here know that I have relations in TF. This weighs quite heavily on my heart. I now have 5 grandchildren growing up in this environment and my husband has one with no doubt many more to follow. This is no light matter to me.
I worked quite hard on helping get this site going and it had been a vision for me for several years before. I even started something with MikeW before WC came along and offered his help. It is very devastating to me to see things move in a different direction than what I worked so long and hard for and for other elements to put pressure on swaying it as they wish and not what is best, IMO.
Of course, others may not see it this way and in their opinion, everything is fine. However, I can't contribute to something that I am so passionate about when my every move is questioned or scrutinized and used to further their own agenda in a deceptive manner. Unfortunately, I had to quit before any of this was delt with. That showed me that for whatever reasons, my ideology was no longer compatible with the coordinators of this site.
I hope and pray that things will work out better here. I wish no ill will, I only wish that what is best for recovering cult surivors will take place. I still am happy that this site has so many references and resources listed and is highly profiled so that exmembers can easily access it. I only pray that those exmembers will find comfort in their continuing faith and not be rebuffed as that is what I feel the boards are moving towards and I do hope and pray that I am wrong. However, unfortunately, I do see this as a trend and not just on this site. What I mean is, in our world as well.
We are still in a battle, but the battle is between right and wrong, good and evil, God and anti-God. I may have been mad at God when I first left the F. and it took me many years to overcome that. However, I never lost my faith in God and I think many of you know that from our conversations in the past. I have worked hard on reestablishing some kind of relatinship with God as that is what hurt most in my heart, losing that connection. At the same time, I always tried to accomodate everyone, including those who had lost their faith and no longer believed in God or Christianity or were on shaky ground or were delving into other areas. I only asked the same respect in return.
The message was sent clear to me in the message from WC when he shut down Kathy's board. He included Kathy and my ideology as right-wing and unbending. That was very much a slap in the face to both of us and of one that will be a long time to overcome. To this date I have not heard from WC except for one email where he thought he might call me and asked for my ph number which I gave him. Instead of calling, he shut down the boards. And what kind of message does that send me?
For someone who doesn't want to face confrontation, but then shuts down boards as the solution and ignore the real issues, I worry about the overall handling of things here. However, it is no longer my concern and for that I am happy. But I am not happy for all the wonderful people I have met and for all those I communicate with who are eager to move on with their lives but cannot find a cyber venue that will help facilitate that. Maybe in the future I can find some fortitude to start up another site, but I am not sure I have that at this point. There is much going on in my life and I have to decide where I want to put my energies into.
Until then, I hope to continue to communicate through private emails and I will also try and venture to these boards from time to time if I feel that I have the stamina for it at any particular moment in my life. I will try and contribute something that I feel as valuable and helpful, if I can.
So, do write me if you want to discuss this further or have any other questions. All the best to everyone. Friend and foe alike.
