By Dan, 25
February 13, 2007

A friend recently pointed me to the transcript of a TV talk show on The Family. They thought I’d be interested to see the comments made by Davida about her life and childhood in WS–probably because I shared the same lifestyle to a certain extent. My parents were WS workers when I was born, and I’ve grown up in WS, received my education in WS, and eventually found my vocation in WS where I continue to work as a project manager with our internet/software department. I also met my wife in WS, and we’re raising our two children here. It’s safe to say that I’ve lived a pretty WS-centric life.

On this TV show–“Montel Williams”–Davida talks a lot about the various abuses prevalent in her childhood, especially sexual, and generally how traumatizing and scarring her years in WS were. I didn’t catch this show when it was aired, but I think my friend that emailed me this transcript was curious to see my reaction, being that I’m one of the only people they knew that grew up in WS who is still living and working here.

Contrary to what they might have thought though, I didn’t have much of a reaction at all. If anything I feel kind of numb because I think a certain apathy has grown in my mind concerning this kind of input about our group. I only lived with Davida for a short time in the Philippines, but we were both “WS kids” and we knew a lot of the same people (I lived with her mom intermittently over the years, and her dad was my 4th-7th grade science and history teacher). There’s only so many times you can hear your childhood, and a lot of the people you grew up with, described so differently than you remember it before it just goes beyond surreal and you don’t really know what to say anymore. That’s where I’m at right now.

I had a wonderful, abuse-free childhood in WS. I felt loved, I was well educated, I was treated kindly, I was given opportunities, I had friends and fun… everything was really good. I’m happy and have no complaints. So of course I don’t relate even a little bit to the sort of comments shared on this TV show. I feel like I’m standing outdoors with someone who insists the sky is green and the grass is blue. I look up and it seems blue to me, and I look down and again it seems pretty green, so what do we really have to say to each other? It’s not even like we’re talking about shades of blue here, or shades of opinion in regards to our WS childhoods, but a complete polar opposite.

All I can say is that it wasn’t like that for me. And although I’m not especially concerned with what Montel Williams or his viewers think of me/The Family, it is a shame that only those with a very negative mindset and awful memories, real or imagined, make for “good TV.” I can see how I’d be a bit of a boring interview with my fairly placid remembrances of swimming and tag, schoolwork and Bible Study, but that doesn’t make it any less true. That’s what I experienced and that to me is what WS stood for—which was no different from what WS leadership advocated and instructed the rest of The Family in. My parents and those that cared for me weren’t saying one thing but doing another. They told The Family to take good care of their kids, and that’s what they did for me too. But it seems a minority feels differently, and they’re the ones getting all the airtime.

So although this won’t ever get a TV viewership, I don’t mind going on record here to say that I had a wonderful time as a kid, and that I was cared for by good people that loved me and gave me a lot of opportunity to succeed in life. And I feel like I have succeeded because I’m doing a job that I love for a cause that is worthwhile, and most of all, I’m really happy. I have a good life. I’m truly sorry for those that aren’t happy and that see their past so differently, but at the same time we can’t let those people paint our organization of today, or even our past, with only their colors. It just wasn’t like that.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 and is filed under Speaking Out, Archived, Letters to the Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.