Next up on the QFR: What can be done to assist brothers and sisters who suffer from adverse reactions to tight pants?
OMG: WT legislating about fragances and common sense
by pixel 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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poopsiecakes
Oh wow, more minutiae to keep the masses enthralled. It's really amazing how they parse out every aspect of living and make a soft rule about it. Nope, no pharasees here!
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BluesBrother
This was the weirdest QFR I have ever seen.
I suppose they are an organization that attracts those in poor health, with conditions that medicine does not solve, as well as the socially highly strung (every cong. has got them) so these complaints will arise . There were also complaints such as "the lights are too bright" , "the chairs too hard/soft" and nowadays I have heard "those with tablets distract me"
In my day, us elders would simply have told them to sit somewhere else if they disliked someone's cologn (NB it is better than their B O)
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blondie
Barry, tell that to the ones who have their eyes swell shut, their throats swell up...and an ambulance has to be called. Perhaps it should be called something else. The people are know are allergic to various foods, grass, animal fur/hair.
But more than jws have this so anyone making fun of them is leaving out a vast number of non-jws who show real symptoms.
I felt sad for the jws I knew who seemed to want to be noticed and could only find a negative way to do it.
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Ingenuous
As Blondie mentioned, this is a tough one to deal with. My mother was fortunate in that her worldly workmates were willing to accomodate her - and happily! Those at the Kingdom Hall - no way. Before my parents stopped talking to me, the "clean room" at the Hall (which was just the second TMS room) was being used by others who had no problem wearing fragrances so she had to resort to a phone bridge for meetings. She was also almost totally confined to the house. This is a woman whose allergy tests had to be interrupted because she's so sensitive to EVERYTHING that she started having an asthma attack from the skin tests.
On a personal note - I've gotten some relief, having worked for decades with an allergist, by experimenting with meds and eliminating certain foods. But I also keep a face mask with a replaceable filter with me because the world is mostly an unaccommodating place for those with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. And, like food allergies, MCS is casually exploited by those who are attention-seeking. Yes, people still argue about whether it's real. The ones who are itching and wheezing and know therapy and psychotropics don't change that (and the awesome doctors who try to help them) - not so much!
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sir82
Just to clarify, I was not making fun of those who suffer from these sensitivies. Psychosomatic or not, the suffering is real.
What galls me is that (A) The WTS thinks that elders are so incapable of common sense and/or compassion, and so utterly dependent on 'following the rules', that explicit written directions are deemed necessary, and (B) that is exactly the way that 95% of elders operate.
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3rdgen
I have sympathy for those with guniune alegeries as I have serious skin alergies. The issue is how should people with health problems be accomodated at JW functions and should there be rules or should common sense be more common? IMO the person with the problem has the primary responsiblity to care for his own health. If that means wearing a mask, or changing seats, or in extreme cases staying home and tying in with the phone. After all, if a person is sick in the hospital no one expects them to attend do they? OTOH, considerate people will omit colongue when they know it is an issue.
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3rdgen
True story: Some years back, while I was an active JW, I had spent months encouraging a dear friend of mine (who was inactive for years) to attend the Sun. meeting with me. Imagine my delight when she finally came. We hadn't even had time to find our seats before an officious sister got in her face and said in a loud voice, "You are wearing cologne! Don't you know there are people here who are alergic???" Needless to say, my friend never attended another meeting again. Thank you rude sister, you helped my friend see what she needed to see!
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Balaamsass2
Allergies are common. For me it's long haired Cats and a couple of Perfumes. No big deal, if my throat swells up, I move or go for a walk outside. Why make a big deal about it or even say anything?
We had a couple of kooky sisters who made a BIG deal about it in a couple of halls we were in. Insulting people, stomping around, wearing masks, refusing to sit in the back room with the air cleaner we bought for them. Insisting EVERYONE buy special no-scent hygene products. Yet... I would run into them in smelly paint and cleaning departments at the local Home Depot and they cleaned homes for a living. Selective allergies I guess.
In the old days I never heard of so many of these problems.....untill Watchtower created the regional building commitee $$$ and INSISTED we remodel by covering up the Kingdom Hall Windows, installing their new GLUE down carpet, their new seats, and their new garish vinyal wall covering, and cheap commercial lights. Suddenly everyone stated feeling nauseous during boring meetings for months as the high mark-up RBC materials off-gassed manufacturing solvents.
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Ingenuous
3rdgen - I hear ya! When it comes to my food allergies, for example, I ask questions at the restaurant I'm in and try to be careful of what I order - but in the end, it's up to me to make sure what I put in my mouth doesn't kill me. (Assuming the people *I am paying money to* aren't being jerks and being stupid and lying about their food, which happens.) I've got my meds handy and I don't dive into food like I used to, for example.
What grinds my gears is when your supposed "spiritual family" and the Elders responsible for your spiritual "health" actually get hostile over someone's physical suffering. My mom faced a lot of cruelty in her Hall from those who didn't take her illnesses seriously - in addition to the isolation that happens from having to physically separate from others. And then to get visits from "concerned" Elders who want to show up *in your home*, your sanctuary, with their smelly cologne and hair products... It was very telling that the "worldly" people she knew were more concerned about her welfare. I wish the weight of that had gotten through...
Don't get me started on off-gassing. Did I ever mention the time I slept on a new memory foam pillow and woke up with hives that made me look like I'd been in a fist fight? I looked FABulous, dahling...