I’m 21, born in the Family and have lived around 19 years of my life in the Family and would have it no other way!!

Growing up in the Family is like a dream life, a life free from the many terrors, hardships and cruelties that children through to teenagers go through while growing up in more secular surroundings. I was brought up with the nurture and love of my parents and other care-givers who did all they could to ensure that I and the other children that I grew up with had healthy mental and physical surroundings.

So you want to say that being raised in the Family was like me growing up in a harmful and abusive environment? HA that’s almost funny, but I wouldn’t give up my day job to become a comedian if I were you. The sad part about it is that if you aren’t trying to be funny and you’re actually saying it seriously, well all that means to me is one of two things. Either you’re: a) suffering from major memory failure and distortion of past events, (and if you are, I would suggest you see someone about it, as opposed to making up fictional alibis to sulk in and to try to get sympathy from others. Instead why not try growing up and getting on with your life.) or: b) you don’t have a life, so you have made it your aim to cut down, accuse and abuse those who do at all cost, even if it means stooping to a level so low that you fabricate lies and fraudulent tales.

I have spent some time out of the Family due to personal choices, and in my time out of the Family I saw and experienced more than ten lifetimes of abuse and cruelty than I ever experienced during my time in the Family. If you want to see real abuse, look at what Ricky did to Angela, and then tell me that there’s abuse in the Family. The Family does not tolerate or allow any such abuse, and if such a tragedy were to happen it would not be treated with such callous, unfeeling acceptance and attitudes as we have seen in this situation.

Whether in or out of the Family you face difficulties, and hardships in all aspects of life but no one makes decisions for you. We all make our own decisions and we all learn to live with them (well most of us) and not be such a f****** coward that we can’t take responsibility for our actions and the choices we make and instead blame them on others &/or our ‘past’.

When it comes down to it it’s all a matter of whether or not you, as an individual, decide to become better or bitter. And if you say bitter is better then I’d say you’d better not get bitter because you won’t be doing better. All that to say, it’s your personal choice what you do with your life. To those of you who have decided not to live the Family lifestyle, or within the Family structure, that’s your choice and I wish you all the best. But to go around cutting down something that you used to live for just because it’s not what you’re living for today or because you have a problem with it, or it doesn’t suit you or it isn’t your style…) is, I would say very narrow-minded and bigoted, even by ‘worldly’ or secular standards (and you wouldn’t want to be that now, would you?)

Ministry: I work with the Aurora team - mainly involved in computer/tech work.

Matthew D. W. (21) is a second-generation member of the Family International, currently reisiding in Thailand.