I have learned many things from wonderful people

What I Learned from Doctor Larry. When I met Doctor Larry, I was very much down on men in general. The notion of becoming involved with another member of the opposite sex absolutely sickened me, due to the abuse I had suffered at the hands of two husbands and three boyfriends. I had become friends with a woman in my math class in college, who was his girlfriend. Doctor Larry wanted to start a medical clinic for migrant workers, who had no access to health care. He felt that they deserved to lead quality lives. Because he was proficient at learning languages, he spoke Spanish fluently. It seemed as an act of God that I had gotten to know him. In 1990, I lent him the money to open his clinic, and he paid me monthly until it was paid with interest. I learned from this experience that there are people outside of the JW’s who felt deeply for the welfare of others, who were honest, and who had needs outside of just being preached to, or studied with. I learned that not all men are abusive, and that there were many out there who really cared about the personal well-being of the underdog. Doctor Larry had been married to a woman who was very unstable and could not care for their son, so he raised his only son alone. He was totally devoted to this task. I learned from this that I could have hope for my own son to turn out to have a positive future. When Doctor Larry’s wife died at the age of 57, having had many problems, which included alcohol, he blamed himself. When his father and mother died, he also blamed himself. He wrote many poems about death, weakness, sickness, and the son whom he loved. During the time period while we were friends, I wrote poems as well. I was still a JW, and I was exploring my life. My parents, like Doctor Larry’s, were both dead, and there was nothing holding me back. Doctor Larry was my inspiration in this process. I continued to try to tell Doctor Larry that the deaths of his wife and parents were not his fault, but I was a JW, and did not currently in my mind think about going to heaven or hell after death, since JW’s are not supposed to think about those things. I don’t think I was of much comfort to him for these reasons. I also learned how ineffective the theological doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses were, because nothing that I said to him or his girlfriend, whom I knew from my math class, was of any benefits to them in their situations.