The Casual Importance of JW elders

by BonaFide 31 Replies latest jw friends

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  Awakened at Gilead

  Your OP is spot on - very true... As an elder, working at a menial job (waiter in a restaurant) didn't ,matter, since in the congo I was a VIP. That's all that mattered.

  Years later, when I was no longer an elder, and had a much better fulfilling job, I began to see how idiotic the elders were. I remember the first congregation that I returned to after leaving missionary service. The PO was sitting in front of me. After hearing my insightful comments, he wanted to meet me. So amen, and he said, offering his hand, "M...B..., Presiding Overseer". I was actually quite taken aback that he would introduce himself in this manner, as if PO were an important title. About a year later, after a shepherding call that went sour, leaving my then wife in tears, as I escorted him out of my building, he confided smugly: "I have a lot more experience than most elders in this circuit". I lost the little respect I had for him at that point.

  I think that self-righteousness is an ailment common among many elders confident of the own self-importance.
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  BurnTheShips

  Burn, I should have qualified my statement, that SOME elders think they are important.

  I've known some like your father, but now those are few and far between.

  No sweat, Snow. I know what you meant. Maybe it is just a Spanish congo thing, but I knew a lot of good elders.
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  Anator

  I remember I visited one congregation, one young MS came up to me and introduced himself as the senior MS. I thought to myself, what the hell is that?
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  Quirky1

  Senior MS?? WTF!! Bunch of little nobody's with a swelled head!!
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  OnTheWayOut

  Senior MS??

  He's the Homer Simpson of the Kingdom Hall. The other MS's that came after him, and everyone that made MS before him get promoted to elder or move on to another hall or get smart and get outta "the truth." Meanwhile, Homer stays right where he's at.

  I loved to tell this story when I was a JW, it still works when I am not.
  
  This elder gives the public talk at my hall. He's never been here before because his hall is kind of far away. Anyway, his talk is basically a great big bragging session on how his wife is a pioneer, his son is a Bethelite, they serve either at Bethel or in unassigned territory every year in the summer which means sacrificing vacation for the work, he gives talks at the Circuit level, YADDA YADDA. Oh, and he mentions the stuff in his outline.
  
  I sit near the front. After the concluding prayer he comes to meet his admirers. Being near the front, he reaches out to my hand first. I say my name, conveniently forget to say how I "liked" his talk. His first statement after HELLO is, "Tell me, who are the elders here?" I point to the P.O. and one other older elder. I don't mention at all that I am an elder. He finishes with me in 10 seconds and he's off to the P.O. He practically runs over some sisters to get there, shaking their hands but not stopping to chit chat with the riff raff. Good riddance. I asked that he never be invited back and I had notes about his talk to say why I asked. He was never back.
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  willyloman

  "they are not important outside of Jehovah's Witnesses...

  Many if not most elders demonstrate self-important behaviors outlined in this thread, but among the worst offenders were those who had no other outlet for their ego. Despite the stereotype, that all elders are "window washers," some made good money and had executive jobs or owned successful businesses with a number of employees. These guys already had an outlet for demonstrating the size of their unit before they ever got to the KH.

  The ones who had menial jobs and/or were at the bottom of company food chain lived for the meetings because there they could "be" somebody. Most men want to be the boss or feel they could do a better job of it than whoever is in charge of their life at work. To be able to put on a suit, show up with a job to do, and be shown respect is powerful medicine. On top of that, elders get to lecture the entire congregation on matters of life and death while people in the audience take notes! These were the guys who were all in, no matter what, and would not be distracted by changing doctrines or shifting standards in the organization. In many ways, this was all they had.

  On the other hand, guys who had the ability to "make it" in the real world tended to put the congo in perspective and were often much more flexible about certain "rules and regulations' and generally possessed a more elastic conscience.
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  jws

  But the elders have that aura of Casual Importance, like they are in charge of people's lives.

  Well, the publications tell people that the elders ARE in charge of their lives. And that the underlings must obey them.

  So many JW elders have a sort of "Casual Importance" attitude at the meetings. They nod a lot, they have those huge bookbags, they read those Society letters during the meetings, they walk down the aisles during the meeting and whisper in each others' ear, they always sit in the aisle seats.

  Yes, my dad (the elder) always had a huge bookbag. Sometimes he needed it. Sometimes he had it stuffed with books for parts on the meetings (before the days he could cut and paste quotes from the CD). He did always sit on the aisle. Which would be handy when he had to get up for parts. But he'd sit on the aisle whether he had a part or not. And he would certainly try to elaborate points when he commented.

  But self important? I don't know. That just didn't seem like my dad.

  On the other hand, I felt somewhat important that my dad was an elder.
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  undercover

  On the other hand, guys who had the ability to "make it" in the real world tended to put the congo in perspective and were often much more flexible about certain "rules and regulations' and generally possessed a more elastic conscience.

  That's a good point. Of the 'good guy' elders that I knew, those that seemed to not take themselves too seriously as an elder were men who were somewhat successful outside of the Kingdom Hall setting. Not that they were rich, powerful or well known, they just seemed to have a self confident air about them. They went about their business with confidence and didn't feel the need to pretend to be something they weren't.

  It's easy to lump all elders into one or two categories of incompetence or full of themselves but there were some good elders as well. It's just unfortnate that they were usually outnumbered by the not-so-good ones.

  On the 'senior MS' thing...I knew an elder's son who aspired to be an elder, just like his dad. From the days when we were in grade school, his nickname was "FE" - future elder. He made MS at about 15 or 16 and by the time he was 18 considered himself in charge of all the other MSs, despite the fact that there were several older than him and had been around longer. He made rules on how to run the mikes, how to roll the mike cords up even (before the cordless ones came along), how to count the attendance, how to distribute magazines and literature, how to keep the records. I for one was glad when he made elder, just so he'd go on being busy bossing other elders around instead of stooping so low as to deal with us other MSs.
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  Quandry

  They nod a lot, they have those huge bookbags, they read those Society letters during the meetings, they walk down the aisles during the meeting and whisper in each others' ear, they always sit in the aisle seats.

  They give the appearance that what they are doing is the most important thing in the world.

  Even the way they stand, and their manner of speaking reflects that they feel important, but that they are "trying" to be humble even though Jehovah God himself is using them.

  This made me remember the biggest @$$ elder I ever had the misfortune of knowing.

  My husband was an elder and he was talking to an elder friend who was the talk co-ordinator. He told my husband that when the @$$ elder newly switched to the KHall that we were in, he was asked what talk outlines he gave. He quickly replied that he didn't usually give talks on a local level, but instead gave them at the Circuit and District level. (None that I ever heard....and he wasn't a particularly good speaker)

  He was enamored of his own self-importance.
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  OnTheWayOut

  Quandry, when I was in a rural area, we had one in our circuit who was the city overseer and gave many circuit talks.
  He just about never stooped to visiting congs. and giving a talk. When he did finally privilege us with a public talk, he thought it should be ANNOUNCED way ahead of time. We were like, "We will announce your talk. We announce all the talks." He thought we didn't "get it." But we did.