All conventions were brutal amd when the kids were real small it was terrible. To think we had mothers with week old babies at these assemblies and since they were almost all outside back then the heat actually KILLED babies nad the elderly. I know for a fact that a small baby died at a convention we attended in Chicago sometime around 1980. The first summer conventionI attended was was in 1971- Shreveport,LA. I was short on money and my wife and I had been studying for about six months or so. My car was not in good shape , so I managed to do a ring and valve engine overhaul on my 1947 Chrysler club coupe all by myself. I finised the job the day before we left and broke it in on the 900 mile trip. We stayed in a rented room in a private home (non-JW) and ate all of our meals at the Convention.The talks started in the morning and they had talks after lunch and more talks after dinner. I think I had one motel stay on the way home. We purchase $100 in travelers checks and used every one for the whole 8 days of the trip. Most people didn't have credit cards back then. I should have realized all the hardships this out of town assembly caused were just the tip of Watchtower people control and a fair warning of more unpleasantness to come. We had plenty of anointed remnant type around back then and all of them were experts on the latest "new light"- and especially at counting the weeks left until Armageddon in 1975. Just rambling on, and feeling good to be out of that miserable lifestyle.
Hardships and Assemblies
by Sunspot 62 Replies latest jw friends
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uwishufish
I remember like 1968 or 9 Toronto Ca . There was a fence around the track and people would hang cassette recorders and record the talks. I would always try to stand by one where I could talk into the microphone and would weave a tapestry of vulgaritys. I always figured that these were never listened to after the fact but I hoped so.
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tan
I hated the fact that you had to stay where they told you to. One year we went on a whim and stayed at another hotel which was conveniently located and priced a lot lower. The clickesh groups would look down on you if you could not afford the more expensive hotels. The seat saving, the looks, the bathroom lines. The whole damn thing.
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restrangled
There is a long history of hardship and assemblies in my family. Back during and after the Great Depression my mom's family had barely enough to eat with 7 kids. They had a couple of farm animals to provide milk. Every year when there was the one new calf it was sold so that all the kids could travel to the New York assembly. They rode in a vehicle similar to the one in the Grapes of Wrath and in about the same condition. Constantly breaking down, flat tires, etc., and literally loaded with xtra people, kids sitting on the floor boards in laps etc. My grandmother could never afford to go, but she made sure all her kids got there.
I remember the 8 day assemblies, sitting in unrelenting heat under umbrellas and the continual droning from the platform at the Hawthorne race track in Chicago. The sessions would go on way into the evening, I believe until 9:00 at night. My dad was a volunteer and worked the whole time in the food department, this is how he spent his vacations in the early years. As a kid I just remember the speakers sounded like the teachers in a Charlie Brown class room.....Wa Wa WA wa WA Wa wa.
The last one I ever went to, the seats were so tight and so close together, my knees were literally hitting my chin. My ankles swelled up, and I have a sciatic nerve that acts up and was so painful, I finally had to get up and walk. With all the "Please take a seat" sign carriers and dirty looks, I went outside in 100 degree heat and 90% humidity, (Florida) and sat for 2 hours until the day was over.........never again!
r
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under_believer
For the most part, I agree with Jerohobobonadad--If you're a middle-class, young, childless couple or single person, it is really no hardship and can even be kind of fun. I loved assemblies when I was a teenager and for the few years of my marriage that we didn't have kids. We'd sit there and listen to the program, sing with the group (at the time this never failed to move me: I feel differently now), go out to eat afterwards with friends, and have great hotel sex when we got back at night. It was a blast.
But the thing is, as many others have mentioned, it's much tougher with kids, disabilities, physical or mental problems, or financial hardships. And that describes about 95% of Witnesses, doesn't it? For those folks, it's torture.
We have kids. Asking small children to sit for two hours at a meeting is bad enough (there's a reason that other religions run Sunday schools), but asking them to sit for six to eight hours a day is sadistic and unreasonable. Remember, most people who organize this stuff, from the Governing Body on down to the various departments at Bethel who administer the convention programs, have never had kids. I have gotten very little out of the last seven or eight years of conventions; I expect this to continue for another seven or eight years (assuming I'm unsuccessful in convincing my wife that it's a waste of time.) -
mouthy
I have seen pictures taken of TENT CITIES - In 1963 when I WAS A jw ( BAPTISED IN 65)WE HAD 8 DAY ASSEMBLIES -We had to tent it... 8 days!!!!! covered mirrors,We went earlier than the start to clean the stadium, peel all the spuds ,carrots, etc. I was serving Jehovah ( ... Then!!! turn this over in your mind.!!!! To go I usually had a bad time with my HUBBY who was very opposed at that time ( when he was dying he wanted to be one because he said he knew i was an angel) Then I took with me( on some occasions my bible studies, )( unfortunaly some are still in it , some became JWS- now dead) I spoke at the Montreal one... Telling how WONDERFUL Jehovah was & how wonderful to be here ( I was telling the truth I thought) I am now very ashamed at my ignorance I am a real NUT because for the first few years I LOVED assemblies ---especially after I had been beaten by my hubby because I thought I was doing it for God ( well i was for the small g) But then on one of my last years it was boiling hot hundreds were lining up for the bathrooms & the water fountain many with little kids. .I saw the Cuircit Servants wives, & typists,About 8 of them sitting around an empty fountain they had the Yellow rope to screen them off. Well being the Mouthy that i am I went up protesting this!!!! Telling them they should be ashamed to have a fountain there while Mums were suffering with crying babies, They smiled & said something like "Well sister - we are so busy it would be hard for us to line up"
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XJW4EVR
I think that the worst part of conventions, at least the ones I attended at Dodger Stadium was the fact that the higher ups had access to the press box, and the Club Section. Those of you familiar with Dodger Stadium know what I speak of. This section was always in the shade, and always filled with the self-important types.
There was also the last three rows of each section on every level reserved for the elderly and the infirmed. I totally agree with that. I never felt it was fair to make old people sit in the sun and have to navigate stairs. But every section on every level? I always wondered why the Convention Overseers never had the forethought to reserve the entire Club Section for the elderly. Why couldn't seating be made for those with babies and very small children?
I remember one of the last conventions I went to at Dodger. I had already faded, and my son was just two. I went, and sat through the conventions ecause I didn't think it was fair for my ex to have to handle all the convention crap, and deal with a two year old, and being 6 months pregnant too. So, my son started to get fussy, and she gave him "the look." I got up and took him with me. I saw the knowing smiles of JWs as I made the long trudge up the stairs to the mezzanine. I then walked over to the stoller corral just outside the stadium, and proceeded to push my son until he fell asleep. It was so nice to not be embarrassed for allowing a two year old that was hot, tired and grumpy to be a hot, tired & grumpy two year old, instead of spanking him for that.
There is no love for children within the WTS.
It was quite a shock, when I went to my church's international convention with my son and my daughter. The leadership of the church had child care for the kids in an air conditioned portion of the Long Beach Arena. We were given a wrist band that had to be matched to the child's wristband. All the volunteers had to go through background checks to participate in the childrens' sessions. The children were given healthy snacks, and the young ones were given naps. The sessions were once in the morning from 10am to noon, and once in the evening from 7pm to 9pm. I smiled, and said what a change from the lack of love shown by the JWs for the flock the pretend to love.
What is more, in these conventions we were allowed to go eat anywhere we wanted. To stay anywhere we wanted. What a change!
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under_believer
Thanks, XJW4EVR. I was hoping someone would post their non-Witness assembly experiences, for comparison.
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95stormfront
I imagine that Assemblies and Conventions are going to get worse for witnesses as time goes on. I attended one day of the district convention with my wife this past summer. It was held in a small high school auditorium in Katy TX. I was appalled at the sardine accomodations provided for by this so-called loving organization. 5000 people in a building built for 3000, Atrocious parking, and far enough from eating places to assure that you'd never be able to go anywhere and get back in time after lunch. Seats so narrow you felt like you were sitting in a straw and concrete stairs so steep it felt like I was mountain climbing.
But, of course, after all I heard was the usual "best assembly ever" and "it looks like so many people is coming into the organization" garbage. Didn't have the heart to tell her that it's not that more people are coming in, it's that the venues the WT is using are getting smaller because of cost cutting.
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LongHairGal
Sunspot:
You were right when you said the ones running the show are NOT sitting in the sun. Nor are they climbing any stairs to sit in uncomfortable seats. They are behind the scenes behind air-conditioned glass strutting around feeling good. As far as sitting in the actual sun, that is a health hazard.
Even when I was active I decided I was going to cut down on attending assemblies. When you work full time you just can't do it. Also, I always felt dead tired when I left an assembly! You would think sitting would make you feel rested but that was not the case at all. I would feel like a wrung out rag when I left. Of course, these arrogant people will say we should be glad and "grateful" for this spiritual food that we should be risking our lives to hear. I remember volunteering and finding our seats gone when we returned. I said, never again.
LHG