Growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness
“I was born in Fort Myers, Florida on December 4th 1998”, says Kennedy Floethe, a freshman at Belmont University. Though she didn’t know it at the time, a childhood filled with ups, downs, and extreme religious practices followed, molding her into the person she is today. Her mother was a dedicated Jehovah’s witness, a religion best known for door to door preaching, distribution of literature, and refusal of military service and blood transfusions. Kennedy defied the odds from the beginning as her mother had three miscarriages prior to having her, and refused getting a blood transfusion during labor which almost killed them both. The doctor noted that she had a 70% chance of being born with downs syndrome, but she beat those odds as well.
The childhood that followed was somewhat of an unconventional one in that she was bound by intensive religious beliefs and practices. Her mother “wanted to raise a legend” given that she couldn’t have any more children after Kennedy and thus wanted her to be the best she could possibly be at everything.
Additionally, being a Jehovah’s witness entailed saying goodbye to many of conventional things that make being a kid so great. Growing up, she didn’t celebrate any birthdays or holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Halloween is “the devils holiday” so she never got to dress up and go trick-or-treating.
Kennedy’s parents got divorced when she was seven due to her father leaving “the truth” — another term for the religion. What sparked the divorce itself was her father wanting to celebrate Christmas one year, which her mother promptly shut down. These events instigated a five-year process of alternating visitation schedules, court dates, and ultimately stress.
Kennedy attended Newnan Elementary, a private elementary school in which her religion inhibited some of her experiences as well. She was forced to sit out of the school play every year because she wasn’t allowed to sing along to musicals. She also had to sit for the national anthem every time it was played.
“I recall one time in particular where being a witness caused problems in school”, says Kennedy. When she was in 4th grade, she found a picture of a beautiful blue comet in one of her religious books that she liked a lot and wanted to laminate for the cover page of her binder. She made copies of the book for a classmate who liked the image as well. Unfortunately, the classmate’s parents got the impression that Kennedy was trying to get their daughter to “join the cult” and needless to say were very upset. “It was at this point that I realized something was different about me”, says Kennedy.
Kennedy Floethe “lived her life under the umbrella of being a witness.” She went to church three or more times a week, constantly read the bible, and spread the word through intensive missionary work. She wasn’t allowed to watch conventional kids shows or movies such as Harry Potter and That’s So Raven because that they depict magic and wizardry. Because her TV and computer time were very limited, she threw herself into reading, often checking out the maximum of seven books at a time from the library.
Though the combination of her mother’s religion and high expectations was already a lot for Kennedy to manage, things were about to get a whole lot worse. Shortly after Kennedy’s birth, her mother was rear ended causing her to get an MRI, which revealed an underlying case of multiple sclerosis. MS causes t-cells to eat myelin, inhibiting the body’s command functions and making it nearly impossible to move and write at times.
Kennedy became her mother’s primary caregiver since she was the only one living with her at the time. “I had to write checks, balance checkbooks, and grocery shop all by myself in order to help my mom”, Kennedy says. Additionally, she was on call 24/7 and was often woken up by a 3–4am call for help from her mother.
Kennedy had a moment of clarity when she was just 12 years of age and recalls the moment she told her mother “I don’t want to do this anymore”, referring to being a Jehovah’s Witness. The realization that she had to choose either being a witness the rest of her life, or pursue her own dreams of being a singer and philanthropist led her to make this life-changing decision. She moved in with her dad shortly after, marking the beginning of her life outside of “the truth.”
“My thirteenth birthday was the first one I celebrated in my entire life”, says Kennedy. It was particularly special because her classmates found out and wrapped her locker in birthday wrapping paper as a surprise before celebrating with her. This made for a very happy and memorable first actual birthday experience. Similarly, her dads side of the family was ecstatic when they found out that they could finally celebrate Christmas together.
It is the hardships of her childhood that molded Kennedy Floethe into the person she is today — a confident, intellectual, and most importantly happy individual — and she would not change the way things played out even if she could. With the way she was raised came incredible reading abilities, wit, and time management skills. “I have no insecurities and am happy with who I am.” Kennedy concludes with a difficult realization, “Whatever I’m able to accomplish in my life is a result of my mother being sick.”