How Did Being Referred To As A Brother Or Sister Make You Feel? (page 3)

gwyneth

I was raised in it, and never gave it a second thought. It was all I'd ever known, so I would automatically think or say it, as if it was completely natural.

You would think that being raised a witness it would have meant nothing to me, but it did. It always felt wierd. It always felt like "hollier than thau". I don't think I was ever meant to be a "religious" person, I just was by accident of birth, so the whole "brotherhood" thing went against my grain.

It also felt like it was meant to separate us (which it did) and make us stand out. All in all, I did not like it.

sweetums

Having never been one, I wouldn't know... but I do know what it feels like being referred to as a "goat" by my mil, who is one.

Crooked Lumpy Vessel

I remember back before I was baptized I had raised my hand for the Watchtower question and the speaker referred to me as sister.

Once the program was over, Sister Nosey ran up to the speaker and I overheard her telling him that I was unbaptized and not a sister. It kinda hurt my feelings at the time.

After my baptism she came up to me and said. 'its official, your a sister now' and everyone was calling me sister in a very overly intentional way. I was wierd.

greendawn

Actually the JWs in the local congo that knew me quite well called me by my first name when refering directly to me. As for those saying brother and sister to each other to me it came to sound as something very hypocritical once I realised that they did not have any real love between them and their spirituality was very shallow. They wouldn't harm each other as much as the non JWs but then again they wouldn't help each other in times of need.

Scully

Growing up a JW, being called Sister™ brought a sense of belonging to it. Being a bit of a nerd in school and not fitting in with Worldly™ people, I wanted so badly just to feel like I belonged somewhere. When I got baptized and started being referred to as Sister™, at first it was very comforting.

However, like everything else in the Organization™, the label is just an artificial distinction between insiders and outsiders, intended to compartmentalize your position in the heirarchy. It became burdensome when someone phoned and asked for Sister™ Scully, instead of calling me by my first name. You knew there was a favour being asked or an obligation attached to it, and the person wanted you to feel that being a JW created the obligation to comply.

When I first went into nursing, I didn't realize that some cultures address nurses by the term Sister - a throwback to the old days when patient care and looking after the sick was performed by nuns. In fact, in German, the term for nurse is krankenschwester - Sister for the Sick. In the Dominican Republic and Haiti, it's common to refer to nurses as Sisters. Imagine my surprise the first time a patient called to me saying "Sister!"

LongHairGal

Rich:

I had to mention to a few people NOT to call me sister in public. The term "sister" sounds stupid like I am a nun in some order. And then everybody in the store turns around to see what the hell it's all about. I told some idiot if they called me sister in public I would not respond.

I don't care how well meaning they are. The JWs are such idiots and imagine everywhere they are is like the hall. I think it is also about boundaries and how they don't know what the term means. They do not know how to behave in public and especially on a job.

LHG

R.F.

I had to mention to a few people NOT to call me sister in public. The term "sister" sounds stupid like I am a nun in some order. And then everybody in the store turns around to see what the hell it's all about. I told some idiot if they called me sister in public I would not respond.

I don't care how well meaning they are. The JWs are such idiots and imagine everywhere they are is like the hall. I think it is also about boundaries and how they don't know what the term means. They do not know how to behave in public and especially on a job.

There is a sis in my hall that got angry over others calling her "sister" out in public too........

I really didn't feel anything about being called a "brother". Didn't feel special because of being part of a group or anything.

nvrgnbk

Depends what neighborhood I'm in.

juni

Personally it bugged me because I AM ME not Sister ***** my husband's last name. Call me by my first name. One elder would say, Sister ***** or Brother *****and then call the person by their first name. That was good I thought.

It was funny though when the person conducting couldn't remember your last name and would just go ahead and call you by your first name. That was refreshing to hear.

Also, was shades of weirdo religions and movements at the time - sister THIS, brother THAT. Like the communal arrangements of the day......

How Did Being Referred To As A Brother Or Sister Make You Feel?