by minimus 53 Replies latest jw friends
I was dragged into the religion as a very young child and always really hated the meetings and loooong conventions. Always felt so guilty about that too. I also hated field service.
I can understand that some of those who were converted as adults would find the talks "spiritually uplifting" though. Why else would they sit through them?
My brother just told our Mom that he "really enjoyed" last month's DC. Better him than me sitting there getting bored to tears, is what I have to say about that!
This is Compound-Complex, or to you, Minimouse, CoCo.
May I respond to others' posts. OK? So here goes:
Drew:
I was not raised a JW, but early on I was so NOT refreshed. It wasn't bitterness or anger over whatever or an ill-defined BA. It was like our newbie, Vyla, stated: she's known many individuals in many different volunteer groups, none of whom suffered depression the likes of that experienced by JWs. There was no value for the "money," i.e., the investment I had made.
ExWitless:
I never actually met the one-legged sister, but surely, once past the guilt and coercion she unwittingly engendered, I did truly admire her, albeit from afar.
LearningToFly:
I must admit, apart from the preceding rant, I took copious notes, an unmitigated source of amusement and unspoken braggadocio for me. Thank you, you horrible school teacher, who taught me NOTHING other than how to take properly formatted notes.
You may call me CoCo
I always hated the micromanagement that went on. Our circuit assembly hall was like a theater, stage front and center, with sets of swinging glass double doors on each side of the stage area to exit to the lobby, restrooms, etc. There were also doors way at the back on the sides.
Well, one CA, they decided to station men to guard the doors where you enter or exit the main theater area. They determined that the doors to the sides of the stage were for entering only, and the doors at the back were for exiting only. The mother's room for breast feeding and diaper changing was not far from the doors stage right. So I observed a woman with a very tiny, crying baby walk up to the door to go to the mother's room, only to be told she had to turn back around, go all the way to the back of the auditorium to exit, and come all the way around through the side hallway to get to the mother's room. The mother's room was probably 15 feet from the door she was trying to go out!
I also hated the signs they would carry around at DCs: "KEEP MOVING" "PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEAT" "QUIET PLEASE" or whatever the heck they said. I thought they were rediculous.
And why is it that only men could carry those signs around, and usually only women were "allowed" to sit by the contribution boxes? I guess if women carried the signs, they would in effect be telling others what to do, and we just couldn't have that, could we?
Oh, I could go on and on...
Yucky! That's how I felt after an entire day of sitting and harldy drinking any water the whole day. Then after an hour or longer drive home from the assembly hall, just horrible. Two day assemblies ment a whole weekend that you get nothing accomplished. (And lose 6-8 hours of feild service) Three day conventions always gave me digestive problems.
Meetings never. Growing up assemblies were exiting because you got to meet boys.
I remember a friend of ours telling us years ago that she and her husband hardly ever fought but that they always seemed to have a fight driving home from an assembly. Their guess was Satan wanted to discourage them. My guess is the assembly was so stressful, it brought out the worst in them.
changeling
I always got that not-so-fresh feeling. I think they make a product for that. I've never walked down a beach with my mom and discussed the procedure, so I wouldn't know for sure though.
(Ok, if you got that, you've seen the commercial. If not, I won't explain it.)
Tuesdays and Thursdays were the most depressing days of the week! As for Sundays, I would spend the entire day wishing we would end up not going to the meeting.
I always was refreshed right after the Sunday meetings. There was this nice little bar on the Lakeshore where the beer was cold, the wings were hot, and the waitresses even hotter.
That is what you meant, isn't it? Anyway, the bar is gone now. They tore it doen to build a condominium complex.
W
i used to feel physically ill when i had to get ready for a meeting. the worst was when you had a mid-day sunday meeting. the whole day was shot. uuugggghhhh. there was no better feeling than tricking my parents into thinking i was sick, and got to stay home. or even better, i actually got them to take me home during the meeting. i used to get miagraine headaches bad when i was a kid, and got to wear i could fake them perfectly. the bonus was, when i faked a miagrain headache, i got to stay home from school the next day. it only happened a few times, but, i guess it felt like christmas. not that i know how that feels.
I always enjoyed looking at the beautiful women at the assemblies. I was looking for a wife up untill 22. After that I only wanted concubines. My wife would never agree to a concubine though.
The joy was gone.
