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In Reply to: PS -however, I did do some idiotic things posted by Acheick on June 10, 2005 at 18:58:14:
People do idiotic things when they are in a highly manipulative environment. Sometimes it is hard to realize that the person that left was oftentimes a teen or youth when they got sucked in.
I think everybody on earth does idiotic things. People in very abusive destructive cults like The Family definitely would do idiotic things even in the beginning but it wouldn't make the person an idiot. Just naive, vulnerable, inexperienced in life or whatever the shoe is that fits.
What is wonderful is that we made it out of something so all consuming and in SPITE of that we are people with varying goals, abilities, talents and can use them as we choose now. Sometimes having many children to support or having illnesses can limit what people are able to do, but I think it is about doing the best a person can and as someone said (something like this) Life is not about the failures but about getting up after each one and trying something different.
That's not the exact quote and I can't remember where I heard it. I know I did not go into the family with the thought that I was joining a sex cult. Had that been the case I would have run the other way because of past experience. I wasn't searching in churches, but I was searching for purpose and meaning in life. That is pretty typical for an adolescent.
It is one reason cult leaders send recruiters out to places where youth hang out. And they don't give them the "meat" of what the group is about. They give them the so-called "milk" or innocent cover.
I realize too that not everything in my life while in the cult was a personal failure. I had many triumphs and much unrecognized strength. We are a strong and triumphant lot that made it out of the mad house and into the real world.
I have so much admiration for you having gotten out with so many children and facing the struggles of survival and coming through it. Two thumbs way up to you. ;)
