With the RC coming I was wondering if anyone else noticed how some JWs seemed to have everything somehow? You would see these attractive young couples who clearly were well off. The Brother had privileges though so you know he was at the meetings and FS regularly. The Brothers would show up early for their assignments and the wife would come later with Starbucks. Always sitting in a big group of family and friends. How do they do it?
The Perfect Ones...
by JW_Rogue 7 Replies latest jw experiences
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leaving_quietly
This isn't just with JWs. I live in an area where prices for a modest home is in the $270-$500K (USD) range. Watching shows on HGTV where young couples in Southern California are shelling out $800K and upwards for their homes is just unbelievable to me. I make a pretty darned good income (i'd be considered upper middle-class, I suppose,) but it's taken me years to work up to it, and even with my income, I could never afford to pay that much for a home. How do they do it? With student loans and potentially other debt, I mean, come on!
Anyway, lots of people like to have their Starbucks and their nice cars and maybe even their nice homes. The big problem, especially with young couples, is that this instant gratification costs a lot of money, thus a lot of debt. Maybe not for all of them. Maybe some are really good at managing their money and maybe some have really good jobs. These fancy coffees are, what? $3-$5 a piece? Do that once per day for two people every day of the month and you're in it for $90-$150 monthly just for coffee.
Anyway, my point is, this isn't just a JW thing. Young couples these days feel entitled, and some are willing to go into debt to satisfy that entitlement. It's too bad, really. The cycle never ends.
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Esse quam videri
One of those perfect couples used to be in my old congregation. Perfect wife, perfect husband, perfect children and all very good looking. Then a game changer happened. They had a down syndrome child. Now you hear about families that make great sacrifices for their handicapped children. Very honorable parents. Not this couple. Did I say a game changer? Well, I didn't really mean it. This perfect couple had a lot of money and could easily have provided for this handicapped child. However, that didn't quite fit into their life style. So, they proceeded to have the child committed into an institution to care for it. Out of sight, out of mind. No one in the congregation ever asked about the little one that disappeared.
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Pete Zahut
With the RC coming I was wondering if anyone else noticed how some JWs seemed to have everything somehow?
The operative word in the sentence above is "SEEMED".
In any group of people, there are always those who manage to do better than average and become the cream that rises to the top. But what do JW's really do? They meet often and talk about how much they are accomplishing but really, it's mostly driving around in cars, sitting in meetings and talking about how great and how happy they are. Most of what they do is for them....about them....and isn't exactly rocket science. Rather it is repetitive pablum that anyone with two brain cells can get the gist of in a few months. They keep busy with work they've created for themselves....it's all talk and rhetoric.
To be fair, there is an advantage in living a clean lifestyle. Less money wasted, better health and looks, but lots of people accomplish this without being a JW. For many JW's , just like those they call "worldly", it's all show.....and no Dough $$. There is a certain peer pressure that keeps the standard of grooming and dress at a higher level than is typical. JW's are dressed up all the time and are practiced at their grooming and there is a certain amount competition and keeping up with the Jones's that goes on. They like to appear as if they are being blessed and are living the ideal life in a spiritual paradise especially at assembly time. If my family was typical, more emphasis was put on what clothes we were going to wear to the assembly, than on importance of the assembly itself.
Everyone looks good or at least better than normal and seem less flawed when they are dressed in their "Sunday Best" and sitting quietly in a meeting minding their P's and Q's. Over the long haul you see the casualties of all of this. You see the hidden alcoholism, the indebtedness that leads to bankruptcy and the pressure that leads to depression and anxiety and sometimes divorce. Others who manage to pull it off, are wondering how much longer they can stand it. You see it in the eyes of the sisters especially, who seem to have lost track of who they are and what they are doing on this endless treadmill.
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wannaexit
So, they proceeded to have the child committed into an institution to care for it. Out of sight, out of mind. No one in the congregation ever asked about the little one that disappeared.
This is disgusting !!!
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zeb
"the little one " disappeared? What the little one with its special needs got in the way of their field service hours?
No one asked about him/her.? Yes disgusting.
I speak from deep personal experience.
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Dunedain
Esse quam videri's comment about that couple "discarding" their special needs child, has just made me sick to my stomach. I am actually, physically upset by hearing this, if it is indeed true, not that I DO NOT believe you Esse videri, its just hard to believe that people would do this.
This is so horrible, I am really disturbed by this. Down syndrome children are HIGHLY functional, and will KNOW if they are being "discarded". This makes me so angry.
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prologos
In a group of people that are supposed to live by the principles that jesus taught , according to the story, a lot of hypocricy has come to the surface, the top. Jw congregations resemble christianity stood on it's head,
Families might have money from grubbing, hoarding from way back, while others naively slaved in the field. In many places, just to own a shack makes you a millionaire after all.-- It is great to profit in a group that is told to be humble and serving. it is great to be served that way, to be considered superior, because the R&F are told to consider the Cream (or scum) at the top to be superior. That is why it is good to be out, free, not just the of doctrines.