Embarassed at school for being a Witness - Did this happen to you?

by Witness 007 51 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Witness 007

  When they played the national Anthem everyone stood up...except afew of us Witness kids who stood out like a saw thumb....a brother two rows ahead of me had a teacher physically drag him to his feet as he struggled to explain himself...I would sweat like a pig as others pointed and laught and told me off...from then on I would hide in the toilet till I heard the anthem finish then come out.

  Then theirs birthday holidays, sex education, religious studies which I wanted to do since I would be a star but I was Banned by my family.

  Do you have an embarassing hide like a rat in the toilet moment.
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  lancelink

  I remember when I graduated from high school. The ceremony was held in the field house, and I was the ONLY ONE out of 400 graduates who sat during the national anthem. Good grief, was I embarrassed !
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  keyser soze

  The worst for me was calling on my classmates out in service, and then having to face them on Monday. Also, not saying the pledge of allegiance, and having to be excused from birthday and holiday parties.
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  Witness 007

  ME AT SCHOOL = "No I can't have an Easter egg...I cant make hearts on Valintines day....I cant make Christmas cards...I cant Make mothers or Fathers day cards...no I cant be in a fairytale play that has ghosts in it...No I dont celibrate my
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  Scully

  I had a couple of teachers who hated JWs with a passion. It seemed every opportunity they had, she would take "shots" at me, belittling me in front of other students, yanking my hair to make me stand up when I sat quietly for the National Anthem, making snide remarks to the class about me not being "Christian" when I didn't participate in Christmas or Easter activities. One of them would dump my desk regularly for things like not participating in morning exercises or singing holiday songs.

  Eventually the other kids in the class realized she was being a total bully to me. At one assembly, she did her usual yank me to my feet by the hair on the nape of my neck routine during the National Anthem. The rest of the kids, led by the playground bully himself, sat down - essentially showing everyone in the auditorium how she was abusing me. She never laid a hand on me again after that. Oddly enough, although my parents knew what she was doing, they never complained on my behalf about the abuse. It was the solidarity of the other kids standing up to her and exposing her that made it stop.
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  Witness 007

  Scully got saved by the worldly kids!...that's great but weird how you had the same experience...teachers are not meant to touch you.
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  Velvetann

  I was embarassed and wanted to disappear EVERY DAY at school. My parents insisted I stay inside the classroom for the Lords Prayer and the anthem. They said it was a witness to all that a young girl was not just going along with the crowd and had some religious convictions. Yeah Right!!!

  I wanted to go outside the room and wait it out. I always lived in SMALL towns and was the only JW in the whole school. I stood out like a sore thumb. I really believe it affected my personality and I became very shy and afraid to speak my mind until recently.. I always felt inferiour. The Kids called me Fleabag and would pretend to accidently touch me and then try to tag someone else to get rid of the flea they got from me onto another kid. I was chased constantly, rocks and snowballs were constantly being thrown at me. My parents never interfered and just said it proved I was being a good witness.

  Velvetann
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  WTWizard

  Not at school, but at work. What happens is the annual Christmas festivals would come up. There would be special menu items on the board, and everyone made such a big deal about eating said items being equated with celebrating Christmas. The witlesses, being the "no-stumble-others" freaks they are, told me that, even though eating those items was not "celebrating Christmas", it would make a stumbling block and was best to avoid these. Which made for some rather nasty times.

  And my birthday. Of course, the manager knew when my birthday was because they needed that information for my Social Security purposes. So, they threw a surprise party for my birthday. Which turned into another "stumbling block" incident. All for a lousy piece of cake and ice cream.
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  Anti-Christ

  I was embarrassed at school for many things.. being a witness was one of them.
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  Annointeds Daughter

  Velvetann: I completely understand how you felt at school!

  Where I come from most of the JW's children attend public schools. However, our parents decided to send my sister and I to a private school full of snobby kids. We were the only Witnesses there and my parents insisted that we stayed inside the classroom during birthdays but we couldn't sing Happy Birthday or give gifts. We needed to be different from "worldly children". It was a testimony. This also happened during holidays.

  I remember being very disappointed when the WT changed the view about the national anthem. Originally we needed to remain seated during it. Then, in the Revelation book p. 196, they presented an illustration of a JW's kid respectfully standing up during the national anthem or Pledge of Alliance, but not placing his right hand over his heart. Where I grew up, the only requirement when listening to the national anthem was to stand up, we weren't required to place our hand over our heart. If the WT was OK with this, then I shouldn't have had to face so many embarrassing moments during my school age years. I'm still upset about this!

  AD