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My worst day as an ex-Jehovah’s Witness was horrible. The morning started out with my face breaking out in a horrible red rash (we later found was due to a sulfur allergy, which happens to be in most soap). It moved on to a long car ride to go to a small independent wrestling show in Taunton Mass. It’s the only town really off of Route 24, and past Fall River of course, so you get to deal with the fantastic traffic involved with crossing the Braga Bridge. I was starving by the time I got to the show because I have this weird superstition regarding eating before a show, I guess I wouldn’t say weird - it’s grounded in fact. I’ve seen too many guys eat right before a show defecate in the middle of the ring on too many shows to risk the same occurrence happening to me. When I got to the show my previously announced match had gotten changed and I was now in a tag team match working a barely trained guy and the Skunk. For those who don’t know The Skunk, consider yourselves lucky.
There was no crowd to speak of, so the matches themselves were nothing to write home about. I snuck out in the crowd to watch the rest of the show with my wife when my first match ended. I watched out in the crowd and I saw my good friend die. He caught someone in a plancha unusually high and his opponent landed full body weight on his head. He was dead instantly but his body convulsed enough to give us hope he would survive. Since I was the closest to him at the venue, I lied and said I was his brother so I could ride in the ambulance with him. I honestly thought we would be sharing a good laugh afterwards how I pretended to be his brother and for the rest of our careers we’d call each other “my brother” suppressing a smile. My wife and my task for the night was to call his parents to get to the hospital, they weren’t half way to Taunton when the doctor’s told us he had passed away. I had called my friends who were closer and they came to help me deal with the situation. I had to tell his parents that he died, and then drive his car to the hospital so his parents could drive it 3 hours home to CT. I ended the day, eating with my friends simply because my stomach was hurting to the point I couldn’t stand up straight. We ate in silence, nothing to say, life had a crazy way of pulling you on a journey.
My best day as a Jehovah’s Witness started with an extra half hour of sleep because we weren’t going out in service before the Sunday meeting this week due to making plans afterwards. I had a bowl of Quaker Oat squares while my mother and I went over the daily text. I got ready for the meeting in my usual way; everything just seemed to go smoothly. My tie was tied with ease, the point of the bottom of the tie reached the exact top of my belt line. The red, pink, white, yellow and blue pastel print tie matched my light blue shirt perfectly and the black suit complimented the vibrancy of the tie and matched my shoes well. There wasn’t a single argument on the way to the hall, in fact I was going strictly on regimen, and I don’t think I thought that morning. The air smelled cleaner than I had smelled in months, the sky was perfectly sunny with the sun behind a cloud, if that makes sense. It seemed like the rays of the sun were specifically lighting every single object in my line of sight to show its most beautiful side. The Sunday Joggers all had smiles on their faces, fathers were out with their children riding bikes, laughing and playing, if the sun had come out I have no doubt it would’ve been smiling wearing sun glasses like the Raisin Bran mascot.
When I got to the meeting, one of my friends was actually there at the same time. This marked one of the few times I didn’t have to sit alone for at least ten minutes before someone I could talk to showed up. We were all discussing our various Star Trek novels. They were so interesting, they all had unique plots, and we couldn’t wait to read everyone’s take on how we would end up in the Star Trek universe. The meeting moved along really quickly, it seemed everyone had the exact answer to the Watchtower questions and the reader actually made two or three humorous comments during the study in his reading. The Public Speaker was rather interesting, and when he wasn’t there was a spectacular view of a hawk outside in the bright blue sky seemingly flying in endless circles. When it came time for service I was paired with a few of my friends, to which we got to listen to music while driving to the different streets. No one was home the entire time we went out, we got to talk about whatever through a leisurely stroll through a well grounds-kept neighborhood. When service was over I was the last dropped off by the older girl in our group who was driving. I always had fantastic conversations with her, she was seemingly exactly like me, and we had seemed to had never finished a single conversation. As we parked out front of my house we finally finished a discussion. As I went back into my house the day done I thought I was skipping through the door, she would be a major part of my life, for the rest of my life. And she was, at least in memory.
People often ask me, “Why don’t you come back to the congregation, you’d be so much happier?” Or “Weren’t you happier when you were a Jehovah’s Witness?” My personal favorites “Honestly are you happier now that you’re out of the truth compared to when you were in it?” I figured I’d describe my best day as a Witness and my worst day as an ex-Witness to illustrate a point.
If I had a choice of reliving my best day as a Jehovah’s Witness and my worst day as an Ex-Jehovah’s Witness what would I pick?
Which do you think that I would pick?
The day I saw a friend of mine die?
The day where everything went right?
The answer is I would live my worst day as an Ex-Jehovah’s Witness hands down. A thousand times I’d live that day as opposed to the seemingly great day as a Jehovah’s Witness. Why you ask? Why would you be subject to seeing your friend die, over and over again instead of living the care-free day previously described? You’d have to be an Ex-Jehovah’s Witness to understand.
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