Venus and Serena Williams' Book

tall penguin

I saw Venus and Serena on Oprah the other day talking to teens and promoting their book, "Serving from the Hip: 10 Rules for Living, Loving and Winning." So when I got in to work today at the bookstore, I decided to have a look.
It's a great book for teens. Tips on doing well in school, learning self-respect, valuing friendships, taking care of yourself emotionally and physically, obtaining financial security, and overcoming setbacks. Great life lessons for your average teen. Unfortunately, the advice given will not be easily applied by their fellow "brothers and sisters" your average jw teens.
I got really steamed up reading their book. They talk about how important it is to have dreams and work towards them. Dreams? I don't remember being allowed to have dreams. Oh wait, pioneering. Yup, that was the only dream I was allowed to have as a good little dub.
And then the advice about how important education is. Again, tying this to living your dream. I wonder how many young jw's will read their book and wonder why they can't go to university without being chastized. Which leads to their advice on not caring what anyone else thinks, but God, of course. They even mention asking themselves the question "What would God want me to do?"
In the section on friends, they quote 1 Cor. 15:33 from the nwt, cleverly disguised as "The Bible". They also mention how they study the Bible everyday, even when they're on the road for tennis tours and how this keeps them in line.
At the end of the book, it speaks of the importance of charity work and how they give lots to their spiritual community. I bet they do. And I wonder if that's why they are allowed a different lifestyle than the jw teens who look up to them.
They are also supporters of their mother's charity foundation called The Owl Foundation whose mission is "to fund programs that address learning problems for individuals who experience academic failure. Its mission is to ensure that every child is treated individually and is provided with the opportunity to reach his or her full potential."
Helping kids reach their full potential...hmmm...I don't know many kids in jw land that will ever reach their full potential.
I wonder if Oprah knows how hypocritical her young guests really are.
tall penguin

LDH

They even mention asking themselves the question "What would God want me to do?"

Apparently, God wants you to have a vehemently non-believing assertive parent who pushes you to reach your full potential. That way, you can have the best of both worlds.

You can pretend to be a 'spiritual' person by occasionally going to the KH, and then when you miss a District Convention for a Tennis Tournament, you can blame that old devil and the unbelieving parent.

In the congregation I attended as a 'youth' in Auburn NY, NONE of the JW kids my age attended college. There is a generation that missed college. We had pioneering shoved down our throats. You were either spiritually weak or a pioneer. There was no middle ground.

These same kids have siblings that are 10 years or so younger that are COLLEGE EDUCATED. Same parents, some elders even. Clearly the parents softened their position.

So when I hear some of these college-educated, never baptised, never pioneered, kids talking about how 'nice' the elders were and what a 'good time' they had as a JW, the point is well made that "our" experience wasn't "their" experience.

I'm happy for Venus and Serena and anyone else who has done well. But that does not nullify the experience that quite a few of us had.

Lisa

Virgochik

Hmmm, I wonder why the ~~little bimbos~~ delightful, spiritual young sisters aren't pioneering between tours?

willyloman

speaks of the importance of charity work and how they give lots to their spiritual community.

...which explains everything.

kwintestal

Leave them alone! They need to count their hours somehow! So they make a couple extra bucks on the side ... it'll cover the coffee-break.

Kwin

anewme

I envy them. Somehow they have eluded the JW ditch the rest of us fell into.

I am happy they have written a book and maybe their example will propel my JW nieces and nephews (who I dearly love and miss) to get out and do something with their lives before its too late and they fall into the same trap as I did.

tall penguin

So I've been stewing over this for the past few days and I've decided to write a letter to Oprah and the Williams gals. I think it's important that they are aware of how the wts affects the average youth in its midst. I've got a first draft. It's 6 pages! I'll edit it and share it with you all later.
tall penguin

orbison11

great tp,,,i am working on mine also

orbi(wendy)

Venus and Serena Williams' Book

Share this