Hi from another kid
I still feel like a kid, I guess. It's kinda weird, 'cause you're treated like an adult at such a young age, and then as you grow up, it seems to go retrograde - I think I was more mature then than I am now in some ways.
My family joined the SO and I lived in a nursery-like place across the street. The place got busted for not being licensed properly and over night we were all moved to a ranch in Mexico to avoid an incident. It was handled so hastily that it felt like being kidnapped. I had no idea where I was going and didn't get to say goodbye to my family. I was 7. I had a little girl I was in charge of. She was 3 or 4. I didn't see my parents for the entire time I was there, somewhere between 3-6 months. It felt like an eternity. Every time a car would drive up the long drive way, we'd all scamper off to our hiding spots until they told us it was safe to come out. We'd all hope against hope that it was our parents, only to be disappointed again and again. I grew to hate this one kid whose family came all the time. It seemed very unfair. When my parents finally came they took me back with them.
When I was about 8 or 9 (10 tops) I was pushed to join the SO. I had done all the checks and steps and had the contract in front of me, pen in hand, but thought better of it at the last minute. I figured I could always join later, but I couldn't un-join later.
My family is split apart - some in forever, some out, some gone. I'd love to say all the things on my mind, but don't want to cause problems for the people I love that are in.
It's taken years to be able to ask the questions I've had - to even acknowledge that they were valid questions, and to be willing to consider an answer that was different from what I'd been surrounded with my whole life.
It has been very helpful to hear about your journeys and ideas, and about what life's like inside the SO, so thank you for sharing. You're reaching more people than you know, and that group will continue to grow.
L. Ron Hubbard, Lecture Series: Anatomy of the Human Mind
Tape: The Genus of Dianetics and Scientology
Tape#: 6012C31
31 December 1960