"Pioneer Syndrome" - Pioneers from the 1990's are getting very sick in 2009! Theories?

by Witness 007 41 Replies latest jw experiences

  • Black Sheep
    Black Sheep

    50 years ago my mother was going on about the foolish young girls in our congregation who were getting married and even having children so close to armageddon. I was about seven years old.

    Were those girls doing the wrong thing, Angel Eyes?

    I bumped into the one who wasn't so foolish just before Armageddon in 1975. J was still happily unmarried and was a model pioneer and hung out with other, much younger, pioneer girls. Her looks were deteriorating with age. Some women mature gracefully. J was just looking haggard. My wife was pushing a pram.

    A couple of years later I heard that J had a boyfriend. I heard that they married, but I had drifted out by then and never met him.

    A few years later I ran into J with one of her pre-1975 pioneer buddies who was married by now. They were childless too. Her CO hubby was looking as young as the day I first met him but D was looking very matronly and was well past her childbearing years by now.

    Mum called yesterday. She tried the 'Paradise can't be far away now!' line again.

    I would feel sorry for her if she hadn't damaged so many lives.

    She is an old pioneer from way back with a large flock of converts on her conscience. To comprehend that she has wasted her life and the lives of her converts is a punishment she deserves.

    Cheers

    Chris

  • dozy
    dozy

    A local congregation had 15 pioneers - 10 of them came down with ME when it was all the rage in the 90's within a couple of years. The PO said that one or two he could understand , but 10? I know of a lot of other cases as well.

    As other posters have indicated , I think primarily it is a combination of guilt together with the sheer tedium of day-to-day ministry. It isn't pleasant having doors closed in your face every day. Money worries due to poorly paid jobs & short working weeks don't help. Neither does the self righteous attitude which many adopt , whereby they become frustrated that others "aren't doing more." Throw all these into the mix & anyone would develop some kind of ailment - it is the human bodys coping mechanism.

  • angel eyes
    angel eyes

    hi blacksheep,are you asking me if the girls were doing wrong by geting married and having children when they may have thought armegeddon was even closer? My opinion,id say no...we are even closer now but if people chose to have children then so be it,noone should be judging or gossiping about them. If they are married then its between the wife and husband,afterall the husband is the head,not any mere man who is outside of the marriage arrangement. I have seen people try to get involved with people marriages,i can understand where your coming from asking this and what you mother said,I clearly wouldnt tolarate it though,my hubby and I are adults and only look at Jah and answer to him :)

    Hope that helped buddy

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    I'm glad I did not pio-sneer. They have many strikes against their health--I do not recommend it. First, they do not get enough sleep. Between a part time job, getting up at 5:30 in the morning, boasting sessions, and preparing presentations for various calls, there is no way in hell that these people are getting anywhere near the 8 hours of sleep a night that they need. You can research what happens when people are deprived of sleep on mainstream web sites: one of those studies on college people getting 4 hours of sleep a night for only 6 nights revealed that they functioned like 60 year old diabetics after 6 nights (you might be able to find similar studies with online research). This cannot be good for the pio-sneers.

    Besides not sleeping enough, they are under continual stress. How often do you hear that, if you don't get your time in, you are in Trouble? I have myself seen many pio-sneers straggling in at 9:20 AM (they were supposed to be there at 9), coffee in hand, moaning about how they didn't want to be out today--consistently. Why would they be out anyway if they were not under substantial pressure? And, they have to set the example--others would be stumbled if they did anything that was the least little bit fun.

    On top of that, so many of them live bad lifestyles. I have seen them drive most of the day, go to a territory, walk a block (stopping at the doors to knock), slowly walk back to the car, and waste another 15 minutes or more getting stuff together for the next street. All stop and go--I would rather see people walking a whole hour, non-stop and at a brisk pace (not stopping to knock at doors), instead of wasting that hour in field circus.

    You also see them getting too much coffee and doughnuts. The car fumes are bad after a while (much of the driving is stop and go, not on the highway). Dry cleaning fumes add to the pollution--if one person dry cleaned their suit, the whole car is full of the poison they used. Fast, good-tasting poison all the time is also bad (remember, three or more times a week renders a person a "super heavy user"). Sitting for hours at a time at the boasting sessions is also not good. Plus, you can't tell what you are going to pick up at the door--from swine flu, a cold, a regular flu--or tuberculosis. Second hand smoke, gross conditions (a filthy table), or even people that are so ugly that they make you want to puke at the doors cannot do your health any good, either.

    Also, I don't know how good listening to Kingdumb maladies all the time is for your health. The Washtowel of April 1993 tells us that heavy metal has an effect on you (though it doesn't tell you what, but it scares you into thinking it is bad). All music can affect you in some way, even if you do not listen to the lyrics--and, I feel some of that heavy metal and rap (and "evil disco that leads to fornication") has an uplifting effect. Soft rock, classical, jazz, and slow jam music puts you to sleep. Kingdumb Maladies will put many people to sleep--besides that the witlesses are not able to sleep anywhere enough, I can't see how Kingdumb maladies can't not hurt your health.

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut
    ...we are even closer now but if people chose to have children then so be it,noone should be judging or gossiping about them.

    Angel Eyes, the scripted talks at the DC's were even "judging or gossiping about them." Challenge my statement all you want, but people know that in the 70's and again in the 80's and 90's up until they changed what "this generation" means, the talks included saying how this was a bad time to be doing such things.

  • Witness 007
    Witness 007

    Good comments Angel eyes!

  • lighthouse19something
    lighthouse19something

    My wife was a pioneer in the 90's, later she was found to have COPD, had to use oxygen, also got foot infections which cost her a leg. She died 3 years ago., still a firm belever in God and Christ, but not wtbts

  • mamochan13
    mamochan13

    My aunt passed away, unable to breath, her lungs no longer functioning. Everyone in the family (all JWs) believed that it was all her years of dedicated service in cold weather that did it. Hasn't stopped any of them, though.

  • wha happened?
    wha happened?

    Now that I think about it, quite a number of pioneers dropped out for health reasons. Did they pioneer because of their ailments? Perhaps. A number though id get ill afer they pioneered including the ex wife. WAC and I know one couple where the wife developed chronic fatiugue and they had to leave.

  • believingxjw
    believingxjw

    The Watchtower trains the publishers to believe whatever they're told. The Awake magazine's health articles cause a convenient self-hypnosis in some that affords the publisher or pioneer the emotional support they lack from their high stress religion. The expectations for women are high in the Organization:

    be submissive to your husband

    keep a model home

    be a model mother and wife

    support your elder husband don't make too many demands on his time

    be a model publisher or pioneer

    working women are expected to do all of the above

    believe everything the Watchtower men tell you because they are appointed by Jehovah to care for you

    keep your children in the truth or they'll die at Armageddon

    don't speak to your disfellowshipped son or daughter

    always remember that you are a woman and not entitled to teach even your own unbaptized teenage son without a headcovering

    if you truly love Jehovah you would all of the above if you're not doing all of the above then perhaps you should study more and go in field service more in order to appreciate all that Jehovah has done for you

    ---------------------------

    The Watchtower abuses its women.

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