From Michael Watson, 25 years old

Dear All those who believe in Good over evil, Truth over lies, Love over hate, and Right over wrong.

I am a product of the Family International. I was raised and educated in the Family. I grew up in an idealistic environment, around people who wanted to change things for the better. Throughout my life I read the writings of one (David Berg) who questioned our modern day society and reasoned to find a better way to live with more love and respect for mankind, as well as to be proactive in helping our fellow man.

I was raised with an instinctive feeling that Good will always triumph over evil, and because of this belief I am writing this letter. I have a sincere innate belief that Good will, in the end, prevail and that all the negative slander, accusations and mud slinging will NOT win, but the true simple acts of love for humanity will speak loudest, and that a group called the ‘Family’ and their members who work hour after hour, who give their life, health, wealth to a simple cause of love for others will not be slandered and crushed by mere ‘hearsay’ and all kinds of negativity.

I have always lived in 3rd world countries and during missionary efforts have been able to see true misery, poverty, and abuse, and this in turn has inspired me to give my life to trying to ‘be part of the solution’ for mankind by dedicating all my time to helping others. That is what made me decide that the Family was the place for me, because I love its goals and efficiency in achieving them.

I, like all those who were born in the Family, was once faced with the choice between being a full-time missionary or pursuing a more secular life-style. That took some time for me to decide and only after ‘tasting’ the other option did I realize once and for all what I wanted in life. I tried pursuing a ‘normal’ job and career for a short period, yet still lived in a missionary community. In 2000 and at the age of 21, I quit my job as a trainee consultant for a corporate management consulting firm and decided that I wanted to live a life in the Family along with my two little kids and their mother.

Although, I was happy to have had an experience working at a job in a traditional manner, as well as the friends I made, I alone, chose the job as a missionary and felt the Family to be the best place to exercise that profession. I respect all my friends, relatives, and family who do not wish to work as a missionary for the Family and share good bonds of friendship based on mutual respect with many of them.

For those reasons I cannot grasp or comprehend those who waste their time or resources to slander, malign, and lie about a group who simply share the mission of living for others out of love and respect for Jesus. Maybe the Family is different and unconventional, and perhaps it just doesn’t fit into molds which current society have determined as the only way of living a Christian life. But why? Why is it that because of a different way of living, different religion, different doctrines, innovative methods, must we who simply want to live the way we believe to be right and noble, have to suffer such slander based on accusations which are disproved time and time again my respected legal officials?

Why can’t all those who hold the power of influencing masses be more careful to not take sides in the way situations are reported, or the way they paint people or cultures? How come the media doesn’t seem to give equal space and coverage to the other side and the hundreds of accounts of a different point of view?

Isn’t Good supposed to win? Good to me means fairness, honesty, sincerity, and the TRUTH. Am I too naive to believe that triumph over wrong can actually exist in this day and age? Is it childish and immature of me feel to feel hurt and revolted when I see a world, customs, beliefs, a language, that I grew up in, which I’ve always loved and cherished, be slandered, spoken ill of on live television and in printed in large newspapers, because apparently the ones who drive the communication vehicles seem to only give ‘rides’ to the side who seem to have a more ‘juicy’ story to tell.

Did I find difficulty and hardship in my life? Yes, but they weren’t the Family’s fault. Was it life’s fault?–Perhaps, because life is tough. Did it teach me anything? Yes, it taught me to learn to rise above hardships, and that is why I put some of the difficult moments of my life behind me because on the overall I’m happy and don’t regret life.

Does my story mean anything?–My story that I was never abused, that I do not feel that my life was affected negatively, that I am proud of my education, that I look kindly on my childhood memories in the Family, that I am happy with the prospect of a future of living in an alternate society constructed with the aim of building a better world? Is that worth any money? Would that be presented as the ‘other side’, that there are nearly 2000 of us in the Family who are well adjusted, and who are happy with the vocation of missionary life? Is it necessary to have to suffer attacks on my beliefs just because they are a different concept than the norm, or perhaps even defy status quo?

Are we entering into another age where people will not be free to exercise freedom of religion? Do you the media want to be the inquisitors of such an age? Is it not obvious that two people can have two completely different outlooks on a situation? Must our beliefs and actions of charity be ‘burnt at the stake’ because of bad media coverage, such coverage which many times is just based on a handful of individuals who feel they were harmed in their time in the Family?

I don’t believe so but I say beware that you do not only publish, ‘air’, and print accounts of a few individuals who, apparently and allegedly suffered ‘evil’ in their upbringing in the Family, and not those who in contrast feel privileged, free from abuse, well nurtured, parented in love, taught positive principles and Christian morals?

I know some of the apparent, hapless individuals. In fact, I grew up with some of them. Some were my best friends. I can actually remember ‘hanging out’ with some of them just under a decade ago and recalling that they didn’t have negative things to say about their upbringing. I remember having conversations with some of my good childhood friends and enjoying the memories of our upbringing, the humorous memories, the fun memories, as well as the poignant memories. That apparently has changed and some of them only remember atrocities.

I feel sorry that those individuals feel that way, but I don’t remember any of what they remember. It didn’t happen to me. Isn’t that proof that there are also positive accounts, and positive upbringings in the Family? That the Family does not need to be categorized as harmful because of just of a few who have different views on their life in the Family?

Can I raise my very two very young children in the Family the way I believe to be the best for them without later having to be criticized for this choice by those who were misinformed about our way of life? Can those who work to inform please come and see for themselves, investigate themselves, and see that there is nothing wrong or evil about our lifestyle? Can’t our beliefs and culture be looked at and analyzed without such rigid agendas?

I truly hope so. Furthermore, I hope that the recent deaths serve as a wakeup call that there lies a great harm in dwelling on the negative, threatening violence, pursuing the cause of destruction.

I would like to end by forwarding my deepest condolences in light of the recent deaths and hope that such acts of violence cease to exist, that we can live in harmony and love, as well as mutual respect.

Sincerely,
Michael Watson

Michael Watson is a second-generation member of The Family International