(Not my personal story. Genders and specifics left out to protect the innocent: subject of story referred to as "child" and "person")

Child, raised in a scientology family, rarely sees parents because they are at scientology days, nights, and weekends. Child pretty much left to raise itself. Child hates school. Parents do not care about child's education, at all. When child gets into trouble at school, it is considered "dev-t"* that they now are forced to deal with.

Child develops no positive interests in life, so gets recruited by the Sea Org and joins at the earliest possible age. Doesn't finish school.

Fast forward many years later. Child, after experiencing human rights abuses in the Sea Organization, eventually leaves as a young adult. Because of their childhood, they have never read a book in their life. They are now encouraged to start reading books, by those outside of scientology who love them. All manner of literary genre's that were suggested are rejected by the person, for lack of interest. The thought of reading a book had never crossed their mind and they don't see the benefit, they see it as a waste of time, they're "too busy", etc. One day out of the blue the person calls a loved one and says "I'm reading a book!" They are encouraged further. Months later they call and say "I finished my first book ever!" They are extremely satisfied, their self-esteem and confidence is out the roof! Months later they call again, proud to announce "I finished my second book!" They are now officially a reader, and a whole new world has opened up to them.

What were the two books this person read?

Mark Headley's "Blown For Good" and
Amy Scobee's "Abuse at the Top"

Thank you Mark and Amy for writing these important and most readable works. This person might never have appreciated the world of reading, had you not written about a subject they were interested in reading about.

*dev-t: a negative term that describes extra work created by others for one to handle. The perpetrator of dev-t gets an "ethics chit".

Pretty cool, though doesn't Scientology require reading books?

Amazing. There are lots more of those, too, so there's plenty more to read. Did this person's parents get out, or are they disconnected?

Generally speaking yes. But in this child's case, no. In the Sea Org, unless they do training courses that require they read LRon's basic books, they only do administrative courses consisting of "checksheets" that require them to read LRon's organizational policies, and listen to his recorded lectures. They might read a chapter from "Problems of Work", a basic LRon book. But mostly, they work. The Sea Org always promises that they will finish school and get a GED. But that promise, from my experience is often betrayed. If they do get a GED, it is only to fill a legal requirement and is meaningless to them. Look what Dave MisCavage has said about education. That is the culture.

This was not a case of the child couldn't read, they just never read a book for fun, or out of interest or curiosity in a subject. Growing up, they were never encouraged to read anything other than scientology material. They might have been made to read LRon's "The Way To Happiness" as a child, a book that lists and describes moral precepts for people to follow, especially if they misbehaved. But scientology does not encourage one to read outside of scientology indoctrination. It probably discouraged it, imo.

Other people not ever in scientology might not become book readers either. But in this person's case, I felt they were never even given a chance.

That's a long story and though I wish I could tell it, I'm not allowed to give any details about this person's family. I felt the reading aspect of the story was general enough to apply to anyone.

I wanted Mark and Amy to hear about this. It's their win too. This is why. They're certainly not getting rich off of their books.

What a sad story, yet turns out so great. Even though I'm not a big reader of books, to have never read even one? That's terrible. I love so very much the un-thought-of benefit of reading the books by BFG and Amy; this person is going to find the world so much bigger now, so much grander and full and full of beauty.

I hope this person gets back to you on this, in about a year or two -- I specifically say a year or two because I would love to hear the difference in this person's life. Reading will become a great friend, and an even greater healing tool for this person, and I'll bet they'll come out just fine.

Random man or woman, if you're reading this (or even if you're not), Welcome to the free world! It's a great place out here. Sure, you have to work, you have to pay your bills, but your life is yours. You can travel, make friends with anyone you like, or sit around one day and do absolutely nothing. And if you get depressed or just feel your past weighing on you, we'll all be here. You're always welcome here to post, to chat, or to have a good laugh. Congratulations on being FREE!

Such a sad story. I hope this person will slowly discover the world of reading, and find out how much peace and joy a good book can bring. I wish him/her all the strength needed to recover from a life of abuse. Find your happiness!

You're not alone..., love, Sekh.