That's what she said

When I was little and totally a Jehovah's Witness, I, like all the other JW children, were not allowed to have friends from "the world". "The world" being everyone who isn't JW. So that being said, I didn't have many friends when I was little. Not a lot of JW kids wanted to be friends with me either cuz my family was dysfunctional and other JW parents told their kids to "not get too close to us".

It was ironic though, that the elders in the congregation kept encouraging me and my brother to seek more friends in "the Truth" (that's what they called the organization) and not mix so much with people outside. Because THEIR kids were some of those shunning us. So there was this period of time when I genuinely wanted to find a girl whom I could be good friends with in "the Truth" and I discussed all the possible candidates with my mum.

I actually really wanted to be friends with this girl, Valerie, who was the daughter of one of the nicest elders around, and who didn't have many friends either, cuz she mostly kept to herself. I told my mum about her, but my mum discouraged me from being good friends with her because she was too "temperamental". So I didn't establish a friendship with Valerie in the end.

Today, I must say that I myself am possibly the most temperamental person I know. I even used to have to take medication for it. This is the greatest irony of all. If everyone's parents thought like my mum, I would have absolutely not a single friend on this earth. Not even a hi-bye friend. Sometimes I wonder if the gods put a curse on me and my mum the day she judged a poor pre-teen for being "temperamental" and prevented her from gaining a friend.

It's like they're saying, "You want temperamental? We'll give you temperamental!" And look at me today. Ah well..