The COBOE in my former congregation allowed his kids to be in the school band, but they weren't allowed to march in holiday parades or play in holiday concerts. I'm amazed at how flexible and tolerant the local school teachers and administrators were, because Brother COBOE is a real horse's posterior.
What was life like for you as a JW teenager?
by highdose 43 Replies latest jw experiences
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Band on the Run
I think I would have ended up committed if it were not for public school friends. No Witnesses lived in our slightly above poverty neighborhood. We lved on a hill and the Witnesses lived in housing projects below the hill. I have wonderful memories of school. We did normal things. When my father was alive, I could only go to school. He made me quite extracurriculars and volunteer work. School was a wondrous vacation. I did not identify myself as a JW. I ran away to NYC to not be trapped at home and beaten. I knew nothing much about NY but running over there saved my life. I knew they would hunt in Greenwich Village so I explored every other part of the city.
My parents were simultaenaously proud of my achievements and exploratins and furious that I was doing it. A single friend my age would have meant so much to me at KH. There was a feeling the family was slumming so both sides rejected a social role in the KH. Mixed messages abounded. My strongest ties were to to the college track HS kids and teachers. What a waste of time.
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ohiocowboy
Besides being eternally bullied in school for being a JW, I was scared to death thinking that Jehovah was going to destroy me for masturbating. I would try to go weeks without doing it, but eventually I would give in, and always felt worthless afterwards. I was always afraid that people would be able to tell that I masturbated just by looking at me, and the worst was having to go to our Doctor who was also a JW. I was paranoid that he, being a Doctor would be able to tell that I masturbated.
Growing up as a JW was a truly horrible and lonely experience, and trying to deny and hide my homosexual feelings just made it all the harder for me personally.
Those of us who have grown up to have a sense of normalcy in our lives after having suffered through some of the things we had to is a great accomplishment.
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No Room For George
Greatest thread ever. Depressing as all hell, but still this thread is second to none.
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Wrath of Jehu
Some of the best times I remember revolve around the joy I had when we'd get together with some of the friends to study the Watchtower. Joy is not a word that accurately conveys the experience.
I would study....oh how I would study EVERY SINGLE article in its entirety well beforehand so that i'd be prepared (tee hee).
We would spend at least an hour on the study, then afterword we would have a treat. I loved it when we'd have chocolate chip cookies...mmmmmmm.
I was a pioneer and I remember when non-pioneers would come to the study I wouldn't talk to them. I considered them to be persons who were not serving our Grand Creator "whole souled".
One time, i was in the kitchen getting a glass of soda pop (tee hee) and a newly interested one started asking me about my job and I told him "I work for the congregation". To which he replied "do you get paid"? I was offended by this question so i took my soda pop and thrw it straight in his face and grabbed him by the throat and said "don't breath a word of this to anyone you son of a b**ch". Then I pushed him on the ground and exclaimed "whoa, looks like Dan had a fall"(teehee).
I refused to associate with someone who hadn't devoted their life to our Superlative Creator. "Newly interested"? Phoooey! Just another loser who didn"t have the guts to make a stand for the truth in my book.
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dutchmaxwell
Ugh life sucked as a JW teenager. Seriously real lame. Firstly I was homeschooled so I didn't even GET the opportunity to get into trouble. Thank god my parents were liberal and let me have cool friends. We broke the rules (kindof). We would swear (things like Jesus F**king Christ) and laugh, play violent videogames, watch rated R movies, talk about girls and how much we wanted to bang them...but that was really the extent.
I had a close-knit group of freinds who were all on the fence spirtually. We knew we didn't want to be witnesses, but we really could'nt get out of it either. It wasn't till I was in college (which of course was frowned upon by everyone in hall) that I made the choice to actually be free from the JW's. I started making new non-witness friends and saw they weren't EVIL like I was taught to think. They were cool and had similar likes and interests without feeling fear or shame that they were bad/wrong/etc. I met a cool"worldly" girl and got into a relationship when I was 19. Then It was pretty much over for me. I stopped going to meetings. Tried smoking weed....Liked it. Smoked some cigerattes...liked them too. Went out drinking...had fun.
Now I don't have to worry about trying hard to fit in with boring, lame JW's. All my really good, close friends left too. Three of them are married now, one is in the Marines lol. I can be free to be myself and have fun with my life instead of living in fear.
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steve2
My JW parents - my dear mother in particular - repeatedly told my siblings and I that we were so very deep into the time of the end (late 1960s - early 1970s) and Satan was even more busy trying to enslave young people that this was absolutely no time for being teenagers. There was work to do and there was more work, then after that there was work.
So I can honestly say my siblings missed out on the teenage years - and in one way or another, we've been paying for missing this important developmental stage ever since.
Within ten years I will be considering retirement and my parents are both long gone, but the system keeps on keeping on.....
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Quentin
I grew up in the 50's and 60's, I think the society was different back then. We had lots of picknicks, the brothers got togehter every week and played baseball, football and basketball. The friends went sled riding, tobaganing and skiing together....(jaguarbass)......it was differentthen....
I feel like I must have lived in the Twilight Zone. Myself, Terry, Johnny ( Terry's best friend ) and about 15 others roamed two circuits like a band of gypsies. That's not counting brothers and some sisters from other congregations that did the same thing. We always visited other kh, or were visited in turn. As long as I followed my dad's rule of thumb....never miss a meeting and rattle doors every weekend, came and went as I pleased, even had worldly friends. I'm not saying we didn't have some "hard nosed" Congregation Servants and Book Study conductors. But, you really had to do something stupid to be on the radar.
Maybe it had to do with the part of the country we all lived in....Dallas/Ft. Worth....I remember when two California sisters moved into our kh, oooohhhh the stories they told. Guess we were lucky.
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hijosdelawatch
I was in a congregation with few young people. We were 5 friends but we all were boys. A very boring congo.
Three of my friends quit the Borg when they turned 18. The other one is the typical perfect JW, who was appointed MS when he was 19.
From the WT perspective, they have a very BIG problem with that if they want to keep the number of members in the long run. 80% of the congos are not a good place to be in.
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00DAD
Tuesday, thanks. I don't like walking around in circles anymore ...