At the hieght of my Jehovah's Witnessness like most people it seemed that everything that I found joy in was always bookmarked with the "new system" that I was eagerly awaiting. If I went on vacation and I was truly enjoying a moment in the sun and total peace the first thought out of someones mouth was always, "Just imagine(I am sure everyone knows what is coming next) in the future when everyday will be like this in the new system!". then there were those anniversary parties when you are so proud someone made 20 or 25 years and the next word out someones mouth inevitably was, "This is a great milestone... but just imagine in the new system when we will say how proud we are we made it to 1 million!!!!.
Granted I participated and indulged the iea and used that same logic at every occasion as well. But since awakening I realized that those moment did not bring me joy, instead they brought this weird feeling of sadness and uselessness. It took the joy of a wonderful moment and covered it over with my hope and faith of something that was coming that I may or may not be in... paradise. Even if I was sure to be there, the constant reminders of how much better that time would be would always diminish the joy that was to be had at that one particular moment.
I even remember at the birth of my first child how elated I was, I was on cloud nine. My over-zealous mother says. She is so gorgeous! I can't wait till the new system when I can have more too. Then your children will be able to play with their own uncles and aunts!!! She laughed... I laughed... but once again we took all the joy out of the moment... and once again placed it on an unseen moment that we all hoped to be there for.
It seems like the most beautiful scriptures such as Ecclesiastes 3:10-13 never really have any true meaning to a jehovah's Witness unless it pertains to the field ministry in some weird twisted way.
Personally I would rather revel in the daily moments of joy of looking at a butterfly on a flower and thinking just how beautiful it is without worrying about how much better it will be in "the new system". I want to look at the accomplishments my kids make and rejoice with them now instead of always minimizing their current accomplishment with one that my faith leads me to believe will happen SOON.
The life of a witness is like the kid that is told at the beginning of summer vacation that before the summer is over he is going to go to Disney World. Every day the kid thinks all day about it, he tells everyone he meets that he is going to Disney World very soon. He reads about all the things to do at Disney World. Dreams in his mind of what he will ride. Little does he know that the promise was just an empty message from his parents to get him to shut up. They had no intention of fulfilling those words. As the days of summer vacation come and go he realizes that the summer is over in just a few days and his parents seem to have forgotten. While all the other kids in the neighbor had fun at the swimming hole, basketball court and just hanging out making real memories... all he is stuck with are his dreams and broken promises...