Ringing people’s intercoms
A small group of Jehovah’s Witness women came to knock on doors in the building. I have neither the authority to decide nor any instructions from my superiors on what to do in a situation like this. My reaction was to explain this very point to them and, in the absence of clear guidance, refuse them permission to go door to door.
Their spokesperson said she understood and suggested ringing the intercoms. It seemed like a reasonable solution to me, so I gave them permission, and they spent some time outside ringing neighbours’ intercoms.
This sect is known for its prohibition of blood transfusions; I thought about this while talking with them; I thought about my own case, in which a nun at Hospital Nuestra Señora del Rosario donated blood for me; I thought that, had the doctrines of these women been followed, I would have died shortly after birth, and I could not help feeling a certain sympathy for them — an indirect agreement born of the thought that I would have been spared the life that followed.
An agreement undoubtedly disturbing and misguided, but also undoubtedly understandable, given the life that followed and the one I now live.