I happened to see a card a few minutes ago from a JW I grew up with to another JW that we grew up with. All of us are in our 50s now, and we've known each other since we were early teens.
The sister who wrote the card has pioneered for decades. She's married, but decided to never have kids.
The card was supposed to be encouragement for a sister that has had a lot of depressing and difficult things happen to her over the last year or two, but the card itself was just filled with despair.
The sister wrote that her father, a long-time elder, is now 81 and not so well mentally. Her sister is dealing with liver disease, her mom old and frail. All are JWs.
"This old system sure has taken its toll on us" was a phrase used in and really the theme of the card. While she and I are the same age, she just wrote as though she's old, tired and resigned to "hang in there" and endure until the New System 'brings an end to pain and suffering and all our problems,' while I find myself, having shed the Witness mentality, so looking forward to the adventure of the last half (third? quarter?) of my life.
I find this one of the most unattractive aspects of the Witnesses, and I've heard it for decades, this sort of "hey, we're plodding through, barely holding on, but nonetheless hanging in there at the end of our rope until the new system comes any second now and takes care of all our problems." It's such a resigned, "oh my (sigh)", Eyeore attitude. Even when I was a Witness I just wanted to take people like that and shake them by the shoulders and scream, "Start living, for god's sake!" Or maybe it should have been "Stop living for God's sake!"
Did any of you ever encounter this attitude?
S4