How Being a Witness made you Lose out on Higher Education and Careers (page 2)

flipper

MAD TIGER- Wow! You could have been a CIA agent ? Wish we could use you to do espionage spywork inside Bethel and force the Watchtower out of business! Come on, go undercover and expose more scandals for us!

SNAKES- Heres to your fading fast. Taking opposite viewpoints helps us educate ourselves.

JAGUAR BASS- I'm sorry the witnesses stole your oppotunities too. Like you say, all we can do now is do the best we can and hope the hell we can retire someday.

CASPER- Yes, Casper it really is a crime how following the Jw's counsel has screwed up people's ability to earn sufficient money to be comfortable in life. I had an elder tell me one time I was being too materialistic when I said I had picked up some new janitorial accounts. Crazy elders!

SHELL69- Good points you made Shell. I'm so glad you were able to have the courage to push forward and get a good paying job ! My son realized the need for further education at 17 and now at 22 is attending a good university ! I'm so proud of him

nvrgnbk

I'm seriously considering going to school to become a teacher.

Not sure.

But I really would love that.

I think i'm getting too old though.

Thanks for opening an old wound, Mr. Flipper!

LOL!

F*cking cult!

This was one of my first topic posts here on JWD...

Stuck in a dead-end job because of obeying anti-higher education policy?

Peace to you and Mrs. Flipper.

Soledad

Does the JW leadership still frown on nightshift jobs like they used to? I just returned to my job after an extended leave and I found that my work team was assigned to a new supervisor. He is a JW and works the 4pm to midnight shift, Tuesday thru Saturdays. Furthermore, he used to work at that position and was then fired, but he sued to get the job back. A very odd JW? Or is that the trend these days? He obviously misses all the weeknight meetings.

Scully

nvr... You are not too old.

I was 31 when I started nursing school. Our family doctor was 35 when he enrolled in med school. One of my colleagues just completed her bachelor's degree at the age of 50. Look at it this way, you still have a lot of good years ahead of you to devote to a career. You have life experience and it does count for something in the job market. You have people skills and alternate job skills that someone much younger than you has not had the opportunity to develop.

It used to bug me when JWs gave me flak about returning to school. They'd sneer and roll their eyes and talk to me in that mocking self-righteous tone when they'd say "Why would you want to do that? Armageddon is right around the corner!! What's wrong with you?? Don't you have faith??"

They'd shut up in a big fat hurry when I suggested that if Mr Scully suddenly dropped dead one day and left us without an income, that I would be happy to move myself and the kids into their house and depend on them for food, clothing and shelter, to demonstrate my faith. For some reason, that suggestion just wasn't working for them.

nvrgnbk

Thanks, Scully.

Very encouraging examples, yours and those of your friends.

WTWizard

Back in the late 1980s, I saw an advertisement for a computer programming job, entry level, with starting pay of $32 an hour (mind you, that is before inflation). The problem that the Witlesses harped on was that there would probably be some programming for the military involved, and they couldn't bear that! They would rather have me out there in field circus working for nothing, and working a secular job for less than $5 an hour.

flipper

NVR- Sorry bro, about bringing up old wounds. Believe me, I have 'em too! I too would have enjoyed college. But now, what with working so hard to pay expenses and keep up with inflation, how would I find the time? Anyway I have always been considered a janitorial/ psychological service for years now. I just don't earn money on the psychology gig. LOL. I'm only a legend in my own mind, and believe me the mind has doubts about that too! LOL Peace returned from the Mrs. and me. Oh! Mrs. Flipper said she thought you would be a great teacher! Wanted to pass that on to you. Hope it makes you feel better! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

SOLEDAD- If you are an elder and "in" with the other elder big boys, they won't hassle you for missing some meetings because of work. But, if you are not in a position in the congregation, and miss meetings, they give you holy hell! It's who you know and who you are.

SCULLY- I'm glad you started nursing school. Are you an R N now? Thanks for encouraging NVR, and all of us with your friends experiences. Shows what can happen when we apply ourselves. Let's see if those same people harassing you about school will say Armageddon is just around the corner 20 years from now. Peace out.Mr. Flipper

WTWIZARD- Yeah, Wizard the Jw's don't want us to earn extra money, unlees the wt society can get their grubby little hands on it. Then it's cool, ya know, kingdom interests and all that rot.They want us to be poor, but their org. to be rich, materially

Reefton Jack

I,too, really love the WTS over this one!
When I was 16, they had sufficient pull with my parents to not only stop me from going to university - but also to stop me from completing the final year of high school as well.

Then, a year later they got me to abandon my apprenticeship as a Telecommunications Technician. After all, the Big A (read 1975) was just a year or two away over the horizon!

Later on, I did complete what would now be called a "Mature Age Apprenticeship" as an Electrical Fitter.
Oh boy - did some in the congregation have the daggers out for me because I did that!
By then, though, I had learned enough about what was really what to take no notice of that sort of criticism.

These days, I manage a power station in a malarial jungle clearing, somewhere on the other side of the proverbial "Black Stump" (actually, on the other side of the
Torres Strait).

Anywhere else, you would have to have at least an Associate Diploma of Engineering to even be considered for a job like this.
For somebody who is just a busted a*&s# electrician, you have to be prepared to go and work in the sump-hole of the world, if you are aspiring to a management-type
position.

At least this way, I can look forward to some sort of retirement in a few years time:
- whereas beforehand, I could look forward only to having to keep working until I fell dead at my work bench!

Oh yes - it is truly "Choosing the Best Way of Life", as they entitled one of their books in the 1970s.

Jack.

flipper

JACK- I'm so glad you were able to rise above the cults keeping you down from earning a good living. Hope you have a good retirement when it comes and kudos to you for having the courage to make a good income for yourself ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

Scully

Yes, Mr Flipper, I graduated with honours almost 10 years ago and have an amazing job that I still enjoy doing immensely. The pay check is pretty sweet too. I have to laugh when I see the JWs who discouraged me from going back to school all those years ago - I'm already a decade into my career, and Armageddon is still "just around the corner". How many lives are being wasted with this kind of irrational thinking?

My philosophy is that you are never too old to learn new things. Sometimes it's even to your advantage to return to college or university as a "mature" student - the determination is a lot stronger than for young folks just out of high school - and the life experience and skills that you already have can be applied to what you are learning.

How Being a Witness made you Lose out on Higher Education and Careers

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