by highdose 19 Replies latest jw experiences
Speaking from my experiance i have seen no less than 10 elderly jw's put into old age care homes and promptly forgotten about!
No visits from their "loving shepards" no vists from their spritual family. They were left to rot out of sight out of mind. I even saw at xmas the JW's being wheeled in to join the celebrations with the rest of the patients. there was no one to tell the staff otherwise and no one thought to be with these forgotten jw's on xmas day.
What was your experiance?
I saw a few cared for who had immediate family and lived nearby. Also, in this area there were a group of older jws (men and women) that regularly visited these people (of course they left literature so they could count their time) but they really visited. But it was not organized by the elders. I had 3 that I visited and I would take them out for fun events.
I have seen much the same thing. When an elderly person is placed in a nursing home,very few of the Witnesses bother to visit.
I visit Dorothy Dunlap (the widow of Ed Dunlap who was on the Writing Committee for the Watchtower and disfellowshipped for apostasy with Ray Franz) and the Society just forgets about these people. If you can't contribute - you're worthless.
I saw that happen several times. The vast majority of the congregation never visit them. With the exception being a handful of pioneers looking to find a way to count time. One or two would visit them regularly and "study" with them as an easy way to get in an hour a week. That always bothered me, becuase I never could figure out how that was a legitimate way to count time, and I also knew if the few people that actually visited them couldn't count their time, they would never have been there in the first place.
I saw that happen several times. The vast majority of the congregation never visit them. With the exception being a handful of pioneers looking to find a way to count time. One or two would visit them regularly and "study" with them as an easy way to get in an hour a week.
My experiences exactly!
You know what is really sad? I'll bet every one of those folks sits and wonders why they have gotten so old in "this system" when for years they were assured it would never happen!
It depends on the congregation.
In my experience, the older ones were not forgotten about. Many (of course certainly not all) made regular visits to old folks in the homes.
It also depends on the person in the old folks home him/herself. It is far more likely he/she won't be forgotten about if they had "many years of faithful service". A "low hour publisher" with few friends would more easily be forgotten.
But I have also known some JWs who have the "if I can't count it as field service time I won't do it" mentality.
I don't think you can paint with a broad brush that "most JWs forget old people in care homes". JWs are also people, and some people are more caring than others.
However, I would also say that it is probably more common that individual JWs are kind in spite of being JWs, rather than because of it.
Well and old friend of Clyde's, who was a PO for many years and raised five children in the "truth", is in an assisted care facility right now. Other than Clyde, he only gets visits from his family, but nobody from the congregation stops by even though it is very convenient from the KH. Clyde's answer (tongue in cheek) is that he's not attending meetings (of course he can't) so why should they bother with him?
I could also go on and on about how they neglected my parents even though my father had been a long-time elder.
It depends how far out of the territory the care home is. Like most who leave the territory - out of site out of mind.
The elderly were well looked after in my KH although often not by their own family who were JW's in our KH! One elderly sister didn't want to be put into a care home but it was decided by the elders and within a few weeks she'd died (or rather lost the will to live). I'm not blaming the elders because it was a tough decision, but with hindsight the wrong one.
MMXIV
