by anew 44 Replies latest jw friends
Hi anew,
I really enjoyed working at the assemblies, KH building etc.
I enjoyed visiting the Farm and Brooklyn Bethel.
I also loved the friends.
I also liked having trust in the GB, that was the biggest positive for me in the Org. and of course the biggest fall. When the trust died everything else did also.
Sabrina
Jehovah's "happy" people.
I think after always having that drilled into you and being told how "happy" you were supposed to be, the happiest people on the earth, you don't feel much like having a Watchtower pep rally now. Sorry. Like somebody said, there was always a shadow hanging over everything. That's why I finally couldn't stand any of it any more.
Agreed! And I don't think we're being negative when we go on a rant about what we DON'T like about the Witnesses -- we are merely luxuriating in the new-found freedom to do so. After all the years of Pravda, The National Enquirer is a little more fun!
Nina
I do not have a "happy memory". I am sorry....And welcome to the board by the way, but I dont.
The most positive thing I can say is that I have LESS PAINFULL memories of my time with JW"S>
Basically, the less I had to do with them, the happier I became. I remember attending pitch-in dinners that were boring, and I felt everyone was looking at us all in a strange way (and they were).
I remember that when we all were allowed to meet and "encourage each other" that witness kids couldnt help but judge and make cruel comments such as " you have big teeth"! (I have "buck teeth" and this hurt me deeply).
I remember feeling very alone, and isolated. I remember thinking how "different" we all were expected to be (which contributed to judgement on each others looks etc).
I just dont have a fond memory of my time with the jw's....In general they were judgemental, critical, and mean....Also, the "JEHOVAH, JEHOVAH, JEHOVAH" got old real quick....
"We stand out" got to be " we are weird" and we dont care who knows it...." we are better than you" I Never accepted.
I'll chime in with everyone else. The good memories I have from being a Witness are directly related to the friends I made, and not the organizational structure. I have no good memories of going to meetings, or out in service or sitting through mind-numbing conventions.
However, I do have lots of good memories of the friends I made. Some of those memories are intertwined with Witness stuff, such as speculating on the next Star Wars movie while out in service, or starting a computer football league among a few of the brothers at the hall, or going out after the Friday night school/service meeting with the other young couples and staying out till midnight or 1.
My initial reaction to the thread title was "Why?"
I have few memories "in" that haven't be reproduced "out".
I honestly can't think of anything "special" about my decades "in".
That's a statement of fact, not bitterness.
If you are talking generally of nice memories, I have plenty.
They all surround nice times with people I knew.
I get to create more and more of those every day.
Personally I'd rather not dredge up the association with the way those people now shun me, in full believe that it's partially earning them kudo's with their deity of choice...
I also remember (before it was banned) playing sports with fellow jws... baseball in particular. I played baseball everyday with neighborhood families and was quite good at it...
However, when we played baseball with witness kids, girls were expected to act weak and be coy.... That never worked for me...I would smack the ball just as I played normally...Outa there!!!
It sure ticked off the other team, but I did so anyway. Fond memories....There ya go.
I'm with Shamus on this one....
The only good thing I remember is filling the chair piping full of gum during the prayer (I always picked the same seats to complete my mission).
Other than that, I can't remember anything. I was an outcast at the KH. People preferred to avoid me. At JW get-togethers, I'd sit there all by myself. Everyone would be talking to everyone else except me. I'd just sit there and watch everyone smiling and laughing while I sat in my own little world of depression. I quit going to JW gatherings after a while. This also had an effect on me after I left. I had trouble fighting depression when I was with a large group of people, even if they were all my friends who WOULD talk to me.
I have memories of going to the KH half an hour early for the association. I'd stand at the back of the hall, watching all the artificial smiles and fake happiness. Again, nobody would talk to me, and the sight of the whole thing depressed me.
So much time was wasted being unhappy. I had no choice since I was a teenager who had to obey my parents and go to the Kingdom Hall.
Coffee breaks were the highlight of service, since I got to eat something. Even those weren't all that exciting. Again, nobody would talk to me. If there was someone else my age there, I'd try to talk about something normal, and then I would get in trouble from my mother since I wasn't keeping the conversation spiritual. Better to say nothing at all than keep the conversation spiritual. WTF was I going to talk about? Jehovah created my shitty dress shoes that hurt my feet? Jesus would have loved to eat a dutchie?
I think the reason why I don't remember much about my JW years is because I blocked them out. It was too depressing to think about them. There was no happiness.
Yep, the good times that I remember were with people, not places or things for the most part.
I remember fun at the assemblies, not because we were at the assembly but because we had fun despite being at the assembly. I remember more about the bars/restaurants and the friends that I was with at out-of-town assemblies than I do about the assemblies themselves.
Assemblies and KH meetings have all run together into one long bad experience. It was impossible to have a good time at the hall. There was always some prude or stick in the mud that made life miserable for everybody. There was always some pompous ass elder who lorded it over everybody. There was always some nosy gossip monger in the crowd. How can you have fun when your watching your back constantly? I can't remember one good time that I had during a meeting itself. Listen, read, comment (and occassionaly sleep). That's what meetings consisted of. But, before and after meetings were a social directory for me for years. It was were we met to plan our weekends or parties. The good times were away from the meetings. I remember good times at peoples homes, at the movies/clubs/restaurants, on vacations with friends from the hall. I had some good times with some good friends. I still have some of those friends who have not judged me because I am inactive. And I still have those good times with them, I just don't have to sit through several meetings a week in a suit to plan our fun.
I remember feeling good about going out in service, but this was what I was told to feel so I tried real hard to feel it and I did because I thought I was helping people,, but most of the time it was dugdery,,a waste of mine and my families time,, I could of been doing things that bonded my family together more,,nothing worse than having to get people out of bed to hear the "good news".
I enjoyed the conventions because I was told I should,,even though they were very boring. Some how I managed to enjoy suffering through them because that was what good JWs are suposed to do,,each convention was suposed to be something special and so I tried too. I just loved the way the FDS provided just what we needed at just the right time.
I think with fondness about all the great times when the CO came.......
