Elder Stranded at Airport after Week-long Elders' School

by OnTheWayOut 19 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Quandry

  Finally, his wife called our ex-JW friend, their daughter, and told her of his predicament. "Well, did you get him a room?" "No, he'll be okay."
  
  The daughter booked a room and had him paged, as he had no cell phone. "Dad, go downstairs and catch the hotel shuttle for XXXX Suites, and they can bring you back in the morning." He went to the hotel and finally caught his flight on Sunday.

  Yep. When all else fails, go to the shunned one for help. Then when the problem is resolved, resume shunning. Until the next time help is needed.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  If the old Guy is on Stand By,he gets a seat when one is available..Not when he wants one.......If he did`nt tell anyone that..How would anyone know?...............It`s a bad situation,but it`s no ones fault but his own..........................OUTLAW

  You know, it's not really about assigning fault to anyone else. It's about how this 80-year old sees it as so all-fired important to go to this "privilege" they are handing him. If I want to assign some blame, I could mention how he/they don't just arrange for someone else to travel with him. There had to be other elders from the greater Chicago area going that same week. His wife or his C.O. should have asked around if he wasn't "bright enough" to do it.

  And the reason he wasn't "bright enough" is that HE IS 80! I know many 80-year olds are still driving a car by themselves. I won't say they shouldn't do that, but when they don't come home at night, there's only so many ditches they could end up in around their own neighborhood.
  Crossing the country by yourself at that age is silly unless you have been doing it several times and still do.

  The 80-year old is the P.O. for his congregation. How much apt attention do you think an 80-year old gives to the school? Would it have just been more wise to send someone else for his congregation? If he's sharp as all that and was capable of taking in the lessons and using what he learned back at the cong., then he shouldn't have gotten himself sitting at the airport for more than 36 hours without some alternatives.
• 

  chickpea

  wonder if the daughter
  will get any credit from
  the dr0nes when the
  story makes the rounds?

  featured on an assembly part?
  "jehovah's spirit alive....
  EVEN in the shunned"...

  ya think?

  maybe?
• 

  minimus

  It was a test. He persevered and Jehovah provided for him and he simply accepted "unrighteous riches".
• 

  Scott77

  Most of us on this site will agree with me that people over 60 years are vulnerable. Its unfortunate that this elderly man aged 80, was left alone without support at a bussy airport. However, from unlikely source, a shunned daughter did provide unexpected support and caring. So where is the credit going? Is this a classic example of loving and caring on the part of the watchtower ? I have met many of the worldly people or non-JW who are so kind, humane and very caring, a far cry from the many of JWs around. This raises some important questions: who is the one the holy spirit operating on? Is bearing the fruits of holy spirit- an exclusive reserve of the Watchtower? I think, shunning is certaily a conveniece tool used by WTS to control and manipulate the ranks and files of JWs. As this example of the abandoned elderly can demostrate, impossing or enforcing shunning practices can be limited when the supposed enforcer in a disadvantagious situation- such as the inability to refuse assistance during one's hour of need when all the expected or likely assistance that should have come from JW source or never-before shunned world people is diminished.

  Scott77
• 

  JWdaughter

  Wow, Most of what I got from this was entirely different. The mind set of most JWs is that they will do anything the WT requires of them. Very few JWs will ever ask anything from other JWs. My mom would go to a public food bank before asking for help at the cong. She doesn't expect anything or ask anything of any JW unless she is paying them for the service-like painting or handyman work-and then she pays them more than she would an actual professional. Probably because of my experience when she was ill and my dad was-no one OFFERS, and no one responds to requests for help. They wouldn't even deliver a WT, much less sit and visit with her. They knew exactly what she was going through. Nothing. No yard work, no one cared for the dogs, no one brought her some decent food.

  I think that is why it never occurred to the man or his wife to ask a local cong. or the elders school folks to come out and help the man. Don't want to keep JWs from doing the REALLY important work of going to meetings and out in service. They are told all the time (even in a recent article) about how the REALLY important charity work that they do is field service. The WT HQ and all that are so far 'above' the avg. JW that asking them for help would probably feel presumptuous. I don't think that all JWs would have left the elderly man there to rot in a airport-esp. not LaGuardia. That isn't even SAFE! The man had no business travelling alone, IMO. Anyway-I think it is great that his daughter took some initiative and helped him. A lot of interesting perspectives here-true too:) We are all looking at the elephant in the room from a different perspective.
• 

  GromitSK

  People over 60 are vulnerable? Where on earth do you get that impression? I know plenty of people over 60 who are no more vulnerable than people 20 years younger. Many of them travel all over the world. Two of them teach martial arts lol.
• 

  wha happened?

  I think it highly irresponsible for a family member to allow an 80 year old relative to travel alone. My Mom is 74 and if I don't know where she is for an hour I just flip out. Sometime the elderly are shy to ask for help so I can picture an 80 year old sitting at an airport and..... not eating or drinking water, or sleeping.
• 

  besty

  "He made his own travel arrangements."

  was there an alternative?
• 

  GromitSK

  Whahappened. I understand the point you are making. It does depend how compos mentis he is though I suppose. I have a neighbour who is 83 and a professor of medicine. He still co-authors papers and writes reviews. He is articulate and sharp. He is also a complete pain in the arse. If I discovered he was stranded somewhere I'd leave him there and go for a beer.

  The comment I took exception to was the one about 60 year olds. Probably by some whippersnapper :)