Encouraging Service Talk

Nephilim

I remember a talk that was delivered at an assembly a while back that was repeated many times in my old hall and I remember it had a line in it that had one of those effects on people like they would go into a silent trance. If you were allowed to "Oooh!" or "Awe!" at the kingdom hall then that would be the kind of response that this would get.

Anyhow, the man on stage was talking about service. He was especially talking about all the wonderful things that happened when you went out in field service regularly. The word "Joy" was used a lot. Which, by the way, having been a witness all my life I now associate the word "Joy" with a whole lot of pain. Isn't that weird?

So the whole talk started to beat around the bush regarding the outlook on service, as if the speaker knew that service was an unpleasant thing... Until finally the brother dropped the bomb on the assembly hall and I quote, "If you don't like service... You are probably just doing it enough to hate it".

HOLY BALLS! (Also not allowed to say at kingdom hall)

Like a verbal whip he Indiana Jonesed the entire assembly hall into silent submission.

I seriously sat there and thought for just one PILLAR OF A SALT OF A SECOND and thought "maybe I hate going out in service because I am doing it just enough to hate it... maybe I should do it more and that will make me like it? Maybe I'll get really good at it and maybe it'll be easier?"

And then, what has probably already occured to you, but slam dunked the 700 or so people there at the assembly hall hit me...

I thought, "maybe I'm just going to work enough to hate it"...

"maybe I'm just getting my blood drawn enough to hate it"...

"maybe I'm just getting my teeth pulled out just enough to hate it"...

"maybe I'm just getting sand in my eyes just enough to hate it"...

"maybe I'm just getting yelled at just enough to hate it"...

"maybe I'm just doing >insert negative thing here< just enough to hate it"

You know... after I thought about, it started not to make any sense. So I honestly had a talk with a pioneer in my hall. I said, "Does service ever get any easier?" and she said "YES" immediately. Almost like she was saying "duh" to me.

Well I guess I was wrong... I was going out in service just enough to hate it. Crap.

But then something tragic happened that I'll never forget... her sister (who was MUCH shyer) she started to cry and she was shaking her head. She kept saying "no it doesn't". She couldn't stop crying. And the weird thing about it was that she was putting in just as many hours as her sister, they were pioneering together.

WEIRD.

So here's my point in writing this. Why is shyness, just an excuse in the eyes of other Jehovah's Witnesses? In this world we have outgoing people and shy people and hell even the outgoing people hate doing the abnormal religious debating to hostile Saturday morning sleepers (who deserve to sleep in on the weekend).

Shyness isn't an excuse. Not liking service doesn't going away for some. God isn't blessing some and forsaking others for odd reasons. It just wouldn't make any sense.

I feel bad for every shy person who thinks that God is forgetting them, or that they aren't doing enough, or that they are bad. Who is ever going to stand up for them?

Or maybe I should just get used to them suffering.

Pistoff

I am not shy, but I realized that door to door was nearly a complete waste of time, and was acyually driving people away from the witnesses.

Wierd, though; I remember when that saying went around.

P

lancelink

shyness is a very real block to enjoying service. Unless I had some extroverted person with me I always hated it.

It was easier to allow my partner to talk , I'm quite the shy one in real lfe.

Simon Morley

This is another one of those "pet phrases" that every speaker spouted as if they were the first to come up with it. I recall a demo some years back at a CA that had some R&F spout the same phrase. How many times have you heard "please keep us in your care and keeping" in a prayer - what the hell does that mean? Care is a form of temporary keeping...

choosing life

I remember that twisted idea. You reasoned on it really well. How does doing something unpleasant repeatedly make it become pleasant? I am shy and I always disliked the lack of empathy they showed to shy ones.

I could actually take service better than the school. I absolutely cringed when I was assigned a talk. It was such a relief when I quit the school. I remember being in a state of constant anxiety during the meetings trying to get up the nerve to answer. I finally got to the point where I had anxiety attacks when I tried to even read aloud in front of others. I couldn't breathe, froze up.

Just thinking about it makes me anxious. I feel really sorry for the young kids who are made to endure all of that. The society seems to think that being shy is a moral flaw that needs to be overcome.

WTWizard

If you are going in field circus "just enough to hate it", try doing just a little less. It should no longer be "enough to hate it". If you still hate it, the statement is proven a lie.

Here are some of the joys I have gotten out of field circus:

**Being with just plain men all damn morning.

**Getting dragged in calls where I have no interest in the subjects being discussed. Usually, they ran long, and someone had a cancer stick going the whole time, blowing smoke in my face. (It is of note that I get less smoke exposure now as an apostate than I did while an active witless for this very reason.)

**Wasting time in warm weather, dressed in the sweat box.

**Having to keep the top button done up in very hot or muggy weather.

**Getting dragged into a call where a guy with ugly chicken legs was trying to hit on me.

**Another call where I saw a guy spitting blood into a mayonnaise jar at regular intervals.

**Being dragged to one call after another, or one house after another, after I told them I needed to be back home.

**Going on streets where, for one reason or another, I simply didn't want to be on, to work them.

**Being told exactly how to walk and what to do and say at the doors or while approaching doors.

**Missing out on virtually everything that was at all fun.

**Being told that they wanted me to do even more.

**Being tired from getting up early in the morning to do field circus, after a boasting session the night before.

**Having them tell me "I'll see you at 9:00 tomorrow morning", knowing I was not getting off work until after 1 AM that night.

Heartofaboy

I remember hearing the glib 'just enough to hate it' statement.

Shyness is very impeding to finding 'joy' in the FS.

darthfader

It's interesting how the "control" creeps into every aspect of your life. I definately feel like that boiled frog... The cranked up the heat one degree at a time and I was in hot water and didnt even know it.

Darth Fader

darthfader

Wow.. looks like I killed another thread

Darth Fader the thread killer...

White Dove

Yes, I agree that if you are doing it just enough to hate it, you should do it less. That is the first thought that entered my mind as the opposite of doing it more obviously meant that you would hate it more. Isn't that the logical conclusion that you would hate it even more if you did it more?

Encouraging Service Talk

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