I will keep this chapter short – as college was quick and relatively painless, and little that happened was a direct result of my Jehovah’s Witness experience.
Although its frowned on to attend college my parents required no persuading to let me attend, in fact had I indicated a desire to skip college, I suspect they would have been angry at me for not following through on my education.
College opened many new freedoms for me, and the system of learning was so much superior to secondary school that I genuinely had a great time there. Due to my association with the witnesses, I could not partake of all the partying, relationships, and fun that was the life of a normal student – but I still managed to make good enough excuses to stay over in a worldly friend’s house up to ten times a year.
I had decided that becoming number one in my class of 260 students was the most likely method to secure my eventual freedom – so I attacked each year, and did reasonably well. College was also a ‘free-zone’, no other witnesses attended, so on the campus, I could be myself without looking over my shoulder.
Since I had only minimal exposure to women during my formative years, I was very shy around the opposite sex – this was a real shame and caused a lot of embarrassment. I feel being unable to relate and speak with the opposite sex is a problem lots of ex-witnesses carry into later years. I know I did for many years.
As with all students college was a time to explore myself and life, I dabbled a lot in the occult, drinking, and smoking the odd joint. In some cases I went further than the average student, but then my barriers had been all the more strict growing up.
By second year of college I was working as a contract cleaner for a very friendly and decent Jehovah’s Witness – one of the good guys. Due to my double life being mainly away from home – very little trouble other than the usual elder sniping occurred in the congregation. They had seemed to have given up on me, especially since I would regularly have a few beers before getting on the bus to return home for the meeting, and the smell was obvious.
Half way through the second year of my degree, I started my own IT business, and worked both jobs while completing my degree. This business was later to provide the springboard for my eventual freedom.
I was also getting more freedoms at home in these years being able to visit pubs for live music, but not nightclubs – they apparently were places where people had sex! I was also allowed to attend my yearly graduation parties. Its strange saying that I had these ‘freedoms’ as I was nearly 20 years old at this point.
In short college was great as I was further away from the religion than ever before. In the fourth and final year of my degree, I made the decision that my parents would not throw me out of home before I completed the last few months – and so I decided to push my boundaries even further.
In the next chapter I will relate my final disassociation, the problems immediately after, and how proud I was of my fathers stand.