Quote:
Originally Posted by finallyprettyokay
With this example, I felt like Matt was not received as a reliable witness to how children were treated, even though he was a child at the time. No doubt he was in position to witness how children were treated better than most adults.
fpo
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FPO,
I'm not terribly concerned whether my witness holds up as reliable in all cases. I've been proven wrong before and it will happen again. I hope I can simply be honest when this happens and admit to it.
As for how children were treated, the environment throughout the Texas region was oppressive. By the age of 13 my parents were out of the LC and I was free from it with the exception of what had been integrated into my head. I went to a few more Young People's conferences (I think 2-3) later on in high school.
Here are three anecdotal's that I may have shared previously.
1. We were all told we could wear shorts at one conference. We showed up only to have this decision reversed. It was the middle of summer in Texas and the heat was sweltering. I defied them. I walked out in my shorts to the next meeting after the decision was reversed. I knew I might be sent home, but it was worth it. They were executing psychological manipulation. Within a few hours everyone was in shorts and it didn't get re-reversed.
2. Without being told that there was a seating order for the kids... Girls on one side and boys on the others side, everyone always segregated. I didn't. I went and sat by the one person who I had been in babysitting with since I was 6 years old. Even she was a little concerned about my presence. I told her that it was fine and that they needed to learn how to grow up. We didn't live in a prison camp. One brother started to approach me. I shot him a look and he turned and walked the other way.
Note: I was separated from babysitting with all the other kids in OKC because my parents were "stinky" to the LC.
3. Each night before bed they would go around the room in prayer. Each person would pray something and then go to the next. I sat in silence when it reached me until the next person started praying. The silence lasted for 30-40 seconds. After two nights of this one of the "brothers" decided to talk to me about it. I told him, "You are free to pray. I'm not comfortable with it, so just leave me alone."
If these little stories give you any clues (as they should) I was a very angry little man.
These little stories are the ones I can give. I resisted the oppressive environment successfully in these cases, but even those who were "rebels" around me didn't have the strength to do it. Most just were dominated by the environment to the destruction of their souls.
I believe that drugs were one of the escapes for those of certain psychological make-ups. I believe extreme depression was another escape. I believe extreme performance-based living was another escape (this is yet another kind of hell on earth).
Matt