The Day The Lambs Roared

I will never forget that night it was in February of 2001. I had resigned as an elder in December of 2000 after the Watchtower Legal Department told me to leave a current allegation of abuse "In Jehovah's Hands'. In January I had went to media to explain how Jehovah's Witnesses covered up child abuse. I was on the front page of the Paducah Sun newspaper and then on the six and ten o'clock news My local congregation sent in a sub co to give a special local needs part that said I was a liar and that none of my allegations were true. This was done in front of my family. It was their last meeting to attend. 

Behind the scenes I was being contacted by hundreds of survivors by email and telephone telling me horrendous stories I could not get out of my head. The magnitude of the problem was far worse than i had imagined. My wife at the time was offered support if she would leave me and take my kids. My business was torpedoed by my brothers and sisters. At the time I was trying to respond to every victim as a felt a tremendous sense of guilt for being and elder and unknowingly support of such evil policies. I had to make right what I had been part of. 

It was three am and I woke up with this vivid picture in my mind. It was a valley of thousands of lambs that were completely silent. I could not get it to leave and so I sat down at the computer and started to write. "The Day the Lambs Roared" was what resulted. The story was a metaphor for what I envisioned needed to be accomplished in the work ahead. So many years after the fact many of those things have been accomplished. I am proud to know so many brave "Lambs" that have roared for the simple premise that children need to be protected. Thank you for making common knowledge what was unknown when I started this. Jehovah's Witnesses have a child abuse policy that endangers children. 

This is the story that started the Silentlambs website....

The Day The Lambs Roared

Picture if you will, going for a walk in a beautiful forest along a winding path. As the graveled walkway gently descends you realize you are coming to a picturesque mountain valley. As you get closer to the clearing you notice a broad field covered by thousands of sheep. From a distance it looks almost like a paradise, the rolling green meadow with the towering mountains all about, it seems like it is almost perfect. As you amble closer to the flock you sense something is not right. It is one of those things that you feel at first but then a slow realization prickles down the back of your neck. What is it? Throughout this valley with literally thousands of lambs there is a total silence. How could this be? You draw closer and then you notice other things. The lambs appear to be abused. Some are underfed and appear to be weak, others seem to have massive scars across their bodies, yet others just lay there and do not move, it is as if they have lost a will to live. What is even more bizarre is that you notice many have destroyed their lives by trying to swim a large river that runs through the valley and its banks are strewn with small lifeless bodies.

Then you see them, well dressed, clean cut and well fed, it is the shepherds. They have an air about them, they seem firmly in command. It is not long after this discovery you find the reason the lambs are silent. Across the valley comes a small bleat, a lamb has managed to pin itself between two rocks, it is in trouble and needs help. It seems to be almost in an instant that three shepherds rush over and begin beating the lamb with their staffs. You try to shout stop! Don’t do that! But it is to no avail, this one will not make it, it is to late. It is then you realize the shepherds heard your shouts and are moving toward you, now you fear for your own safety. You begin a swift walk to get away, but they sped up their pace. You begin to run but they are gaining and then at that moment something happens. A small ram steps between you and the shepherds and with all his might makes a sound that betrays his anger, his pain, and frustration for living a life of fear. The shepherds are startled at first and the other sheep look at the little ram like he is crazy, but the shepherds quickly move to end the problem and gather around him, this is surely the end, but across the valley comes another sound much like the first except this one is even more piercing, it has the sound akin to a woman’s scream and again the shepherds divide their number to address the problem. But then there is another but it is deeper and has the sense of rage unleashed at that very moment. Then another weaker but no less angry, then another, another, another and soon the sound is reaching across the valley. Each lamb starts lending their voice and the sound starts to become deafening. The shepherds are rolling on the ground holding their ears in pain, but the sound continues to rise, louder and louder until the mountains around start to shake, rocks and boulders come tumbling down and yet the sound continues to grow. Trees are shattered and the river is dried up as the mountain begins to fill it. Yet still the sound continues to grow. You fall to the ground and hang on for dear life as a massive earthquake rocks the entire valley. Everything is flattened and you think it is never going to end. As the earth moves you are hit by a tree branch and knocked unconscious.

Finally, you awaken and are amazed to see what lies before you. No barriers, the mountains are no more, the shepherds are gone, swallowed by the earth and no longer a threat, the river is just a gentle stream now with easy access. Then you notice the lambs, they were a bit worse for the wear, battered, bruised, and still scarred, but different. They moved freely now among one another on a long level plain. It was not just the movement it was the sound, soft bleats and gentle baas waft across the land. They seemed to have a sense of direction as the flock moved away as one. It was true they were not cured of their ills, they do not have great security as before, as to what their new life would be, they did not know, what they do know is that they would never live again as a silentlamb.