by alliwannadoislive 36 Replies latest jw friends
Nothing was worse for me than a BORING speaker. It made the talks seem 2x as long. And my own personal experience with CRAPPY sound equipment-UGHHHHHH!!!
Boozy
p.s. And the thought of kids who should otherwise be enjoying a day at a park having to sit thru some crap they dont undersand is quite disheartening.
... sigh ... 17 years of 'pure'association as opposed to 2 weeks with you bunch of 'bad' associates ... heehee seems like i'm here to stay ...
Hey! alliwannadoislive
The children smacking used to always upset me too! They would be taken for a smack at times where I thought that they should be IN BED…….not being kept up late. Parents always seemed more concerned about what other people thought, the beady eyes that were always there, willing you to take them out. I really hated that – the children were soooo bored too! (see parenting section also)
IndividualsWife,
So,you had cheap loo paper too! LOL !
I hated the totally antiquated look of our hall. I often wondered what sort of an impression it would give to first time visitors……….it was so stuffy! So weird! I do know that there are other halls that were far worse than ours. So, where is all the MONEY????
Latte
(don't mention the flower arrangements)
Unfortunately I disliked the kingdom songs. When I was a little girl I attended the Baptist church with my mother and they had lively songs with a beat and a tune you could carry. When I first came in the truth 30 yrs ago, the sister who studied with me loaned me her kingdom records with only piano accompaniment. She said if I was ever feeling down to listen to them. I tried it once, found them so depressing and thought they could drive someone to suicide so I gave them back. Unfortunately, the songs haven't improved much. Happy people should sing happy songs, right?
The toilets are something I will never forget endless visits for a beating with a wooden spoon or hairbrush,or being dragged up the hospital for manual excavations as a kid because any time spent in one filled me with dread.
To this day I still dislike public toilets immensely.
nelly
Broter Laming from Portsmouth provided the occasional light relief. Built like a brick shit house, he was, nonetheless, incredibly squeamish.
Whenever talks turned to rotting eyeballs etc, he would faint right out of his chair.
Wonderful.
..... fanaticism masquerading beneath a cloak of reasoned logic.
Oh, nelly!
I am SO sorry to hear about the abuse visited upon you.
I also HATED the spankings, but I must say that at the halls I attended I never saw ANY child hit with a brush, wooden spoon or anything other than an open hand. There WAS one brother who would stifle his children's yells by putting his hand over the child's mouth, and THAT disturbed me. They were quite fair, and the girls' faces would immediately go even redder than before. I bet they have suffocation issues later in life!
And yet, this family was often frowned upon because they DIDN'T spank and the noise level had to get quite high before the hand went over the mouth and the child was taken out to the foyer.
I was one of the people who also DESPISED poor public speakers -- droning on following an outline you'd heard countless times before!
AND I was petty enough to resent not being called on. I was usually well-prepared and the conductors knew this, but it was the times when the question seemed to demand that an ELDER respond, and my hand was up but no ELDER'S was that I grew resentful. I felt it was an insult to my intelligence. CERTAINLY, Sister Always Prepared could answer this DEEP question just as well as any elder who didn't have the gumption to raise his hand in the first place, no???? But the conductor would wait and wait until an elder DID raise his hand. (I guess my vanity's showing! lol)
and then I have to agree with FREE who mentioned being given the TMS talk slip and having Sister Spiritual as your partner! Rarely did I type up a talk until the day before meeting! Even worse, though, might have been having a talk with Sister Impromptu, who would call when I was the householder and say "Well, these are the main points I'm going to cover, and I'd like you to read these scriptures, but there will be no script, because I like to keep it real and casual. You're all right with that aren't you?" (In a word? "NO!" -- but I survived that, too...)
outnfree
I never looked forward to going to any meeting. I dreaded every one, some more than others. The idea that the rest of the world was doing something more enjoyable while I was there was always in the back of my mind, and it turned out to be true.
i remember when i first started going, a mother would walk her 4 yr old to bathroom with wooden spoon in her hand,,,i was appaled (sp), and one really nice kind young man, bout 15, homeschooled, 5 kids in family, etc,,,was at local mega drug store,,,after service with service bag, etc,,,wanted so bad to have magazine on cars or something, he stole it,,,put in bag next to his wt mags,,poor kid,,was reproved,,,but even then more than welcome in my home as i knew he wanted to read about cars so bad,,,,
i often wonder where he is now
wendy
Definitely hated hearing (and feeling - I was raised a Dub) those beatings! I knew that those poor kids were getting hit harder than if they were home - parents had make sure EVERYONE in the KH heard that were not "sparing the rod".
I grew up in Northeast Florida, & it was miserably hot & humid from May until October. But what did we have to wear to the KH & out in service? TIES! And some CO's frowned upon wearing short-sleeved dress shirts! (Kept you cooler, but were by no means fashionable)
Having to endure poor readers & speakers. I mean, some of these folks had been doing the Ministry School thing from it's inception - and almost no progress! I wanted to pull my hair out sometimes!
Waiting for "Little Johnny" (or Janie) to finish screaming "JEHOVAH", and any other blather that can come out of a toddler's mouth, for the third or fourth time that WT study - because he/she is the PO's kid & everyone thinks they're so cute.
Working with 30 or 40 year old microphones that needed repair almost weekly, and a PA system with a tempremental amplifier (anyone remember the name of the popular PA system?)
I could on...
--Michael
