Hardships and Assemblies

by Sunspot 62 Replies latest jw friends

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  OUTLAW

  I thought us Old School JW`s had it bad..It got worse??..You guys were seriously abused...OUTLAW
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  Sunspot

  always felt bad for the older people struggling to make it to the conventions and people with small children- sitting there ALL DAY LONG that in itself is bad enough. also forcing people who are already giving all they have ($) to pay for accomodations and then asking for MORE donations on top of that- pretty crappy imo.

  brings up another topic- who is organizing protests outside conventions?

  Bodhi---It WAS extremely tough on moms trying so hard to keep their little ones quiet, fed, clean, and occupied during all those hours each day!

  I really can't tell you who organizes the picketers outside the convention sites. I've heard about them here and there but don't know any details! Sorry!
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  Warlock

  DON'T YOU ALL KNOW THAT WAS DONE TO BUILD UP YOUR ENDURANCE, LONG SUFFERING, PATIENCE.......................?

  Warlock
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  BabaYaga

  *dOh* double post
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  BabaYaga

  Man, oh man!!! I'm laughing at these now, and so glad I have been away for long enough that I had forgotten... I had totally forgotten about the paper taped over the mirrors in the women's bathrooms! That was so incredibly bizarre!!!!!
  
  How about ENDLESS FILTHY CONCRETE STADIUM STEPS IN HIGH HEELS?
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  Sunspot

  Looking back, the best part of every assembly I ever attended was the closing song and prayer on the last day. I don't miss anything about the wts, apart from a few friends who don't speak to me now, but I miss assemblies least of all.

  fullofdoubtnow...I must tell you---you are B-A-A-A-A-D!! And I agree with you completely!

  They are themselves torn between pleasing their captain and being reasonable. Funny, when I was an attendant I thought they did a good job. In later years when I just attended the shindig, I thought they were officious jerks!

  BluesBrother...
  Those rose-colored-WTS-glasses with the built-in scales on them, certainly served a purpose back then, didn't they?

  Then the continues pressure on wives who didn't work to pioneer no matter how many kids they had to take care of. Those talks by Elders presenting these poor sisters with 8 kids, walking to meetings and pioneering were enough to make me want to puke. Lord the memories of all that. Thankfully it is over, I feel for the ones left who still go faithfully.

  Balsam,
  Yup, the chant of "DO MORE-DO MORE" after spending money, time and resources just to GET to an assembly... I used to wonder what MORE do I have left to GIVE any more? I don't think I was alone in my feelings....ya think?
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  JWdaughter

  I went to one assembly, more in curiosity than anything, once my son was a little toddler. Well, I went for a very short period of time to one assembly. . .I enjoyed them when I was a kid(except for the sitting down and listening part)helping out in the kitchen, going to the restroom during talks (no lines-gotta go NOW, mom!)seeing Michael Jackson entourage(really)watching the goofy dramas, wondering if I would ever get baptised(maybe after I lose some weight. . .)I was 15 during the last assembly I went to as a JW, and I was talking back to the speakers(mentally) at that point. New clothes were fun though. . . Back to going there with a toddler-they still had food back then, and I wasn't a bookbag carrying witness, but it was still a nightmare. The seats at the Tacoma Dome were nightmarish, all those stairs with a 18 mo. old was scary and NOT ONE person offered to help with him. I was obviously alone with him and got no greetings, no hello's and only one person spoke to me. Said I should take my little boy and sit down because I had been walking around so much. Uh huh, so I took my baby and we went to my car, I sat us down and I drove away.
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  Jerohobobonadad

  Hello all I hope you are well.

  No one is going to like me for this....

  I just left a post on the "PA Convention" thread concerning some of the hardships and difficulties that JWs had to (or some here still have to?) endure just to either GET to a convention or what they go through after getting TO the convention.

  Having to trot around from designated doors to the restrooms (rather than being ordered to use the door THEY told you to) no matter where your family was sitting....

  Or having you and your family have to climb way too many stairs on the last upper tier to find seats.....while plenty ofempty seats remained on the ground floor that were never used that whole day?

  Or the designated WTS-regulation-sized cooler you had to lug into the stadium because you weren't allowed to leave the site to get a snack or a drink?

  Or being told that you should not go outside the arena for lunch in order to "please Jehovah the WTS?"

  Or being told which hotel/motel you had to stay at every year?

  These can hardly be described as "hardships". Balsam can say these were hardships, some others with other family/ personal problems can say these were hardships, but for most able bodied humans (which I assume most here are) - 3 or 4 days (ok the week long ones if you were around then) with the relatively minor inconveniences described above are not hardships. I accept that there is a finacial burden on going to assemblies - my family included - but having to climb a few stairs to get a seat is hardly a big deal.

  Turn on the news or visit a cancer ward. You'll see hardship there.
• 

  Sunspot

  I realize now 22 years later that I enjoyed doing all that because it meant NOT SITTING IN THE CONVENTION AND LISTENING TO THE DRIVEL THEY WERE FEEDING US.

  When the baby was born and I had to lug all the baby stuff, and bookbags and then started to have to bring our own food, with a husband that left to go do other things all day and left me to take care of the baby alllll day....and having to put my baby down on the concrete on his blanket to nap in the heat, and having to nurse in a crowded smelly MENS bathroom on an armless chair until my back ACHED....I was already looking for the door.

  Dawn....The more I see and hear....and the longer I am OUT of the WTS and not tied to all this crap any more....the more proof I see that the WTS does not CARE about the "sheeplike ones" except for what they can do or contribute towards furthering the WTS itself.

  I have seen pictures taken of TENT CITIES put up in the 1930's and '40's for WATCHTOWER conventioneers to live in for DAYS! -

  VM44....I can't even begin to imagine it!

  Also the financial difficulties associated with taking time off work and the travel expenses

  Rebel8....It wasn't too bad for those in good health, with no children, and with no trouble dashing off a check for anything they might want. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to most JWs, who ARE struggling just to "keep their eye simple" as the WTS instructs them to do.
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  katiekitten

  Sitting on the bleachers at open air stadiums getting alternately frozen and cooked as the sun came in and out.

  Watching the shadow creep up to where you were sitting, and then scanning round to see if there were any spaces in the sunny bits.

  Watching the sprinklers monotonously flicking too and fro on the football field. Once a dog ran on and shat right in the middle of Southampton Football Club field. It was fantastic! It was the most interesting thing that had happened for 4 days. Even more interesting was watching a brother struggle with his concience over whether he should go onto the field (which we were ABSOLUTELY NOT allowed to do) and remove the shit, or whether to obey the club rules and leave the shit to puterify on the pitch. The suspense was better than an action film.