Crmsici: that's some interesting stuff. I used to be much more empathetic and tuned in when I was in the "world," hitch was before my hair was cut. I chalked it up to Jehovah protecting me from the demons and also that it was better to put those interests on hold until the new system, when there will be no demons to tke advantage of things like telepathic communication. I have often wondered about the connection between Samson's hair and his "strength." Half of one's ability to win a fight is the anticipating of your opponent's next effort.
I want to grow my hair back out!
by onlyastory 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Band on the Run
Crosy, Sills, Nash, and Young, I believe. "I Cut My Hair Today." I am a child of the 1960s. Woodstock, Fimore East, every major antiwar demonstration in NY and DC. The Bangladesh Concert. etc. Long hair was a political and social statement. If someone worse blue jeans and had long hair, I knew they would have bootleg Dylan albums, too. The world has changed. Conservative Republicans wear blue jeans. They enjoy heavy metal, too.
Cutting hair symbolized the Selective Service system's grip on you. It was the stripping away of you for induction to go to Viet Nam.
There is a definite Witness culture besides formal Witness teachings and doctrines. i was born-in so I always knew them. If you go to JW.org, you will find an antiseptic, untruthful version of the Witnesses. There was a time when blue shirts for men were a no-no. I knew brothers who never had power to do anything b/c of mustaches. It was sad but there were no fellow hippies in my KH. What I recall mostly clearly are the rules for women. No dangle earrings. No hoops. My younger sister, age ten, copied me (I saw it as an insult) and wore a maxi coat. She wore it to school so it passed the mother test. My mother viewed school clothes as more important than meeting clothes. If my mom purchased the coat, it is appropriate. She said no to me about so many items. Well, my ten year old sister in the maxi coat bothered them. I wore short skits (mini skirts) from a Manhattan boutique with dark opaque tights. B/c the hems did not touch the ground, I was immoral. Scarves were troubelesome. I did not look like a prostitute. My problem was I was identifying with middle class college students more than some elderette.
The wrong color men's shoe might cause problems. Indeed, I would travel to Brooklyn by subway. Certain subway lines had a high concentration of Bethelites. When the car doors opened, and I walked into the car, I could tell immediately which men were Bethelites. There was no one item that gave it away. They just were completely out of place in metropolitan New York. There are so many cultures here that it is hard to stand out.
I don't think these items make the Kingdom Ministry. The culture evolves. I've known brothers who had the savvy to consult Bethel about hair and attire. They even received answers. How do you prove you are being passed over b/c of not obeying some local brothers rules? Spirituality is hard to prove.
Well, I've lived in corporate land a long time but my first allegiance is to long haired men. Grow it back and enjoy its splendor. Oh, I recall the trouble with the Beatle mop tops. I used to sit in the KH and run Ed Sullivan reruns in my head.
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stillin
BOTR, I saw you at some of those places! Washington Park,march on the Pentagon(March into theteargas)
long hair had political, social significance during those years.
Did you get to Woodstock?
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Band on the Run
I was at Woodstock! The moon walk happened a few weeks before. There were enormous jumbo trons set up in Central Park. The park served nice picnic lunches for free. It was historic and so late that I feared sleeping through it if I stayed home. My mom and siblings wanted to be part of a Central Park crowd. We chose ABC. David Peel and the Lower East Side stopped by to annoy the crowd. Of course, I knew them from hanging out in the Village. I was willing to pay them money to leave us alone. David told the crowd about Woodstock. It had not been in the Village Voice. I was shocked that I did know from hanging out 8th Street. The next morning I drove far to the local head shop in Jersey to get tickets.
The problem was that I underage. New York forbid travel through Westchester County unless you were 18. My mom knew all about the groups through me. She knew what the chances were of the Beatles showing up if so many other legendary groups were performing. Of course, Dylan was acting as a recluse. We knew he had a motorcycle accident. People assumed he was on life support. So the listed groups were not that important to me. I could see them all at the Filmore. My mom volunteered to drive us up there. We scouted the area the week before. I left with valuable souvenir material.
I always hung out on W.8th St. in Greenwich Village or Bethsaida Foundation in Central Park. These were the scenes of weekly happenings. I was on constant alert for visiting Beatles. It was the kind of thing they would do. This was NY, not some small town. We loved them. Any merchant who put a Beatles poster in his shop increased his sales. People would hang out and talk about the Beatles all day. Antiwar central, too. When we arrived, I could not believe my eyes. The numbers were staggering. I felt I saw the same other 500 rock and roll fans all the time. The crowd was enormous even by NYC standards. It was romanticized for the theatrical film. Parts of it were so cool and other parts had me terrified. My mother said we had to leave b/c of the lack of security. She was afraid of a crowd crush, klling thousands in the mountains. I appreciated the NYPD now. Besides I was so far from the stage. Elements of the crowd were spooky and violent. I was annoyed b/c I had tickets!
If they had maintained security, Woodstock would be even more legendary. Pete Townshend made the same decision as my mom. Cash up front, perform, and get out by helicopter. It took hours to make it through the crowds back to the crowd. Farmers fields were completely destroyed. They were standing in tears. As we drove back downstate, the NY State Thruway was completely closed. People abandoned their cards wherever and walked in by foot. My mind kept thinking back on the numbers of people. If we could draw these numbers to an antiwar rally, the war might end sooner.
I was embarassed that my mom had to take me. The way I dressed a NY State trooper would have intercepted me. I told me people I was there but left early. My mom only recently made it back into the story. Now I meet Beatles fan in their teens or twenties. They treat me as a major celebrity. When I mention how grown up I wanted to be and the embarassment of going with my mom, they don't understand. I am grateful she decided that we had to leave. I noticed that after Woodstock, the New York police were very enthusiastic about crowd control. Bodies would sail through the air at historic rock concerts. Much later in life, I had a very ugly encountered with a NYC cop. I could have sued the city for hundreds of thousands. When I spoke with an assistant police commissioner, I told him that I was giving them a one time pass for all the times I survived rock and roll concerts. We were even now.
There were not enough officers for the last Paul Simon concert in Central Park. I thought I was going to die for 45 minutes. There is a lot to be said about bodies sailing through the air. As I was caught in a just short of crush, I thought of all the peace demons and slighlty dangerous Filmore East concerts of my youth. I never imagined I would die for Paul Simon of all people. When I emerged from the crowd and could breathe, I noticed how if I sat outside the main area, how close he was and how great the audio was. My hippie days are over. Paul Simon and not the Stones or the WHO closed them.
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Bruja-del-Sol
Funny, the OP's question makes me think of my ex-husband who always wanted to grow his hair longer than the brothers thought was 'decent' (especially his father who was PO at the time). But he always waited weeks before he finally went to the hairdresser, even when several brothers in the hall came to him with semi-sarcastic jokes. And of course his father wasn't pleased, but that was probably the main trigger to NOT go to the hairdresser 'in time' (funny thing is that our son has the exact same attitude and sometimes waits months before going to get his hair cut. Even though he's not a JW there are lots of people who think it's necessary to make a comment about someone's hairdo when it's getting longer than 'usual'... they just don't understand that the more comments they make, the longer he'll wait hahaha).
I also recall the shock in our last hall when my ex came in one day completely bald! He had a bet with a colleague: he would get 500 Dutch guilders if he would let his colleague shave his hair off. The colleague thought he would never do it, being a JW and knowing that I wouldn't really like it (understatement LOL)... but my ex said "fine, go ahead. Oh and thanks for the money". He came home from work and rang the doorbell, so I would come to the door to see it while his colleague was still there... Jaw dropping moment, but I barely showed it. I stayed pretty cool and asked "what happened?" and then he showed me the money he received. And that was that... LOL. That night or the night after we went to the hall... really hilarious! Nobody dared to ask him why he did it, they totally ignored his lacking hair!
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zakharijah
I don't know if you can get disfellowshiped for that, but you'd probably receive some counselling from the Elders.
I too had long hair and cut them when I wanted to become a publisher. It was obviously stopping things to move forward...When I started fading in 2011 the first thing I did was letting my hair grow back. I have them below my shoulders now and it feels so good ! Do it !
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Goldiver
In any depiction I remember seeing of Jesus in the WT publications he sported long hair and a beard hmm....