by Outaservice 13 Replies latest jw friends
If you had, say, a daughter around 11 or 12 years old, would you let her go door to door with a friend also that age? With all the strange people out there, is the Watchtower Society contributing to dangerous situations with their manner of preaching? At least, the Mormon's go two by two with young men.
Some large cities have apartments up dark stairways and many neighborhoods are not even safe during daylight hours.
Outaservice
I would be as worried about that as I am about the child molestor who shows up on the porch with a Watchtower and AWAKE!
I have often thought about safety even amongst adults in service. I don't care for the idea of 2 adult women going door to door. Boys and men are not invincible either. Working apartments always creeped me out because of the thought that some serial killer or rapist could be lurking in dark stairwells, etc. Working in rural areas always made me nervous too.
There are so many risk factors in going door to door, I hope some day the WT gets sued from someone getting hurt. Think about not only meeting up with crazy people, but getting bitten by dogs, suffering heat stroke or frostbite, falling down steep stairs carrying heavy book bags, etc. Oh, the dangers...
NO! not even with other Witnesses! My children don't even go to the bathroom in the KH by themselves!
We had a convicted Pedo in our KH Bookstudy and the Bookstudy Conductor knew nothing about it! ( I should state that the man never spoke to anyone, never used the bathrooms, came at the start of the study and left immediately after the prayer.) It was the look of fear, anger and surprise I saw in the Bro Conductors eyes that confirmed my protectiveness. I believe only 2 Elders in the Congo knew and they didn't think to tell the Bookstudy Conductor (who has children too)! Shameful. They should just announce Bro or Sis SO& SO is a registered Sex Offender. "We do not condone their past actions but as Christians want them to draw close to Jesus and God." Please treat Associate SO & SO with civility. Then the Pedo should keep respectful distances as the above one did! I live in Texas and our Caesar says once a danger always a danger so if someone has committed this crime they wear a scarlet P in the sense that they have to register and have their picture plastered all over town. In fact that would be a great idea forget Purple Triangle....Lavendar P's to warn parents. Also absolutely no privileges and no FS! Just sit quietly and then leave. Greatful you haven't been tarred and feathered. Harsh maybe but the victims sufffers a lifetime why not them too!
Sry for the Rant
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yes, it's dangerous. I wonder what kinds of injuries or attacks have happened that we don't know about. When I look back on it, I'm amazed that our parents let us kids go door to door on our own.
I dont think it would be responsible letting two 12 year olds go to the door by themselves.
Really not responsible taking your children to the kingdom hall at all.
Is that any different from letting kids go trick or treating?
The Watchtower Corporation never cared about it.
It is very risky. First, you are driving across town, often paying more attention to the house numbers than to the road. That can result in accidents, especially if you are also extremely tired because you did not sleep well due to excessive time in service. Additionally, using a cell phone to check whether the next call is going to be home or not is dangerous in traffic.
Once you get out of the car, you worry about weather incidents. The Tower is not flexible. You have to dress up to code, no matter how hot or cold it is. And that puts Witlesses at higher risk of frostbite or heatstroke than the average pedestrian in the same conditions. The suit coat contributes to heat stroke, and the collar button done up adds to it. In very hot conditions, you want loose, light colored clothing (white shirts work best here at reflecting heat). Having a suit coat on top of a white shirt defeats the purpose of having the white shirt (solely because it reflects solar energy best). In cold weather, a dark coat on top is recommended, and sisters need pants or leg warmers in very cold weather.
One thing, besides crime, bad steps, and dogs that you worry about is what about that householder that is coughing nonstop. Is that the flu or bronchitis, or is it tuberculosis? People that go door to door, especially if they do not sleep well, are prone to picking up these infections. I wonder how many times someone has gone to the door, healthy albeit tired, and picked up a cold or the flu that way. And people can spread colds and flu, and tuberculosis, among car groups. You can spread a cold before you even know you have it, and often this results in spreading it around car groups and to other householders that were healthy before you showed up.
Finally, this is one risk that is commonly forgotten. When we bring children to the doors all day, we deprive them of the chance to play and learn. Remember, many toddlers are born scientists and thus are into everything. This gets suppressed when they have to spend the better part of the day out in field circus. And this leads to stagnation that is extremely difficult to remove later in life. Such children never get the chance to develop properly. Spankings and after-service punishments add to this, since children are not supposed to be following their parents in door to door work all the time. This is true regardless of how otherwise safe the area is, and is not a hazard with Halloween because that only happens once a year and for a couple of hours at most. Field circus is all day, every day, and that's when it displaces learning.
There definitely are big risks.
So many I know of that have been bitten by stray dogs, fallen and injured themselves on people's properties, had guns pulled on them, etc, etc. There was one sister that told me that her and a brother were doing door-to-door work and came across a guy that invited them in and wanted her to go to his room with her while the brother stayed at the front of the house. This brother even told her to go ahead, that it was fine!! How much of a dimwit can you be!!! The guy pulled out a gun and wanted her to hold it.....then she hightailed it out of there. She went on because the brother told her to and she didn't want to be "unsubmissive".
