Posts by dubstepped

66

What Should the Minimum Wage Be (USA)?

by Village Idiot in

during the gop debates donald trump said that american’s “wages [are] too high” and later said “that having a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for this country” (7:25)..

do you agree and if so why?.

my two cents on this issue; do the math.

dubstepped

I'm late to this part and certainly no expert on the subject. Feel free to correct me where I'm wrong or answer any questions I pose.

First, why should someone be able to live independently on minimum wage? It seems that now people expect to be able to raise a family on that. Why? Also, the wage is then multiplied by 40 hours. Why 40? Who says that is an acceptable amount of time to work?

Could it be that if minimum wage jobs are all you qualify for, maybe you shouldn't plan to have kids or a spouse that doesn't also work? If you do, should you maybe then have to work more to pay for your life? Should you maybe have to work on increasing your skills and becoming more valuable in the marketplace?

I grew up poor to the point where if it wasn't for the kindness of people at the KH at times we wouldn't have really had food. Why? My dad wasn't exactly a go-getter and my mom didn't work. My dad would turn down overtime and seemed to just want to work as little as possible. He hated his job, and I get that, but we all suffered. Had he worked more, had my mom worked, had they spent time bettering themselves, maybe we wouldn't have been in that position.

I'm no college grad, but I have always been willing to work as much as it took not to be in the financial position of my parents. My wife and I clean houses. We support ourselves well doing that, no higher education required. And you know what? We have a waiting list of families that want us to clean for them. Why? Because we not only do a good job but we're conscientious, hard working, honest people. Why don't we hire? Because finding people that want to be conscientious, hard working, honest workers is hard. We have a client that has a handyman business paying a very good wage that cannot find reliable help. In fact, many people that he hires have stolen from him.

I do think that minimum wage matters. But nothing works if people aren't willing to. Surely in some areas there is a dearth of work and minimum wage may be all that is there. In others there may be opportunities out there that nobody is bothering to reach for because they might have to work hard and not handed to them. I also wonder how much the government supporting people has discouraged people and made them lazy. Why bother working or even trying if you can survive without doing much of anything? I know many cleaning business owners that can't even get people to show up for interviews or just use them to put on unemployment records to act like they're trying to find work. So the minimum wage, at least to this guy who is admittedly not an expert on the subject, seems like only a small part of the overall problem.

38

Honestly, Did Jehovah's Witnesses Do Anything POSITIVE For You?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was raised as a witness and am very thankful that i am out.

having said that, i think my upbringing produced positive qualities in me.

do you believe that anything positive came from your being a witness?

dubstepped

I have a very addictive personality. I think that had I not been petrified of the results of even trying drugs and such I could have very well ended up strung out somewhere. I didn't allow myself to even be curious, and the arrogance programmed into me made me avoid certain things from my high horse. That actually probably was a protection for me. I probably could have gone off the rails on a few things but I had too much to lose. So there was at least an effective deterrent, for me. That's really about it for the positives. Most other qualities I have I would have had anyway. They did plenty of damage, but in this one small way I do think they saved me from myself. Of course, it was intense fear that did the saving, and that had its own horrible consequences in life.

19

A conversation with my dad

by magotan in

i talked to my dad today, after i text him when i was angry after a night out.

i'm starting to get closure on my parents relationship with regards to me.the dynamic between them versus me is abusive.

my dad didn't think i had any reason to be bitter.he said i chose to leave "jehovahs people" and this is what i should expect as treatment.

dubstepped

So many heartbreaking stories of abusive behavior from that cult. F-*-C-K them and their arrogant dehumanizing ways. They are all abusive and they hope that even if you leave them you will live miserable lives in the shadow of shame that they project. Pisses me off.

53

Finally posting and I'm FRUSTRATED!!!

by stephanie61092 in

okay, i'm about to engage in a major word vomit.

just giving you fair warning as your time may be better spent somewhere else.. so, i'm sitting on my lunch break, bawling my eyes out, and writing on this forum to people i don't know yet probably have a great deal in common with but at the same time, used to scare the daylights out of me.

for years, i would come across this forum and 'lurk' awhile if you will, or see things on youtube.

dubstepped

Damn. Your post brought a tear to my eye, and I'm handing this off to my wife to read as we drive to our next job. I can echo so much of what you said. These apostates aren't so evil after all. It was an eye opener to me that when I finally got the guts to visit a site like this I saw people echoing what I felt inside. I knew then that apostates weren't mentally diseased evil people. They were just awake.

I want to send you the biggest bug. I too struggled my whole life to develop that magical "relationship with Jehovah". What I found was that for most of was a romanticized figment of their emotional needs. It wasn't really founded on much. I could never get there and beat myself up for it. I thought I must be a horrible person. Nope, I'm just not easily fooled. I was never cult material even though I was deep in it.

You can never go back. This is where you build your new life. It hurts so much to lose your family, and you had a wonderful one, but they're very sick. The only way to get them back is to become sick yourself. You deserve better than that. They do too, but it is up to them to get well.

66

New Light: Clap when it is given a Reinstatement ad

by TheTruthBR in

jw
friends

a new letter was posted in jw.org to the elders who are under the brazilian branch:.

january 25, 2016to all bodies of eldersref .

: clap when given a readmission addear brothers:we would like to inform you about a recent adjustment.

dubstepped

millie21020 minutes agoWith all the problems that exist in the Org today, this is what they are amending?
This is what they are focusing on?
This?

I had the same feeling when I was on my way out and saw the Tony Morris rants about tight pants and patterned socks. They had millions watching for the first time and that is what they focused on. I believe in the Bible the whole "straining out the gnat and gulping down the camel" would apply. They ignore the big things while focusing on minutia, and almost never focusing on love. It is all about narrowly interpreting the letter of some law and refusing to look at the spirit of it. They are a disgusting group. According to the Bible even the angels rejoice at someone turning their life around but it wasn't allowed in the Borg. They are just emotionally evil people.

25

All shunning soon to end

by poopie in

jw
friends

this is just a first step clapping.

it's like the fed one quarter bases point at a time.

dubstepped

@poopie

All of your threads have to do with shunning. It's obviously a terrible practice, but what's your story with it?

25

All shunning soon to end

by poopie in

jw
friends

this is just a first step clapping.

it's like the fed one quarter bases point at a time.

dubstepped

@James Mixon - You probably visited your niece's book and were followed by a cookie. The rest of us probably won't ever see that ad. Advertisers use retargeting to basically follow you around with ads for things they think you may like from things you've expressed interest in.

9

Burn, baby, burn...!

by EdenOne in

i had to clear space in my shelves for new books that keep arriving.

so... out with the "old light"!

we got rid of all spares and duplicates and only kept one of each for the sake of memorabilia.

dubstepped

I tried burning some when we went camping for our first Christmas and they didn't work well as kindling. I could hardly get them to burn. Maybe it was the fact that it had rained and everything was damp, but the books/tracts/magazines should have been dry. I wanted to burn them so badly, but they weren't burning clean so I just brought most of them home. I'll have to try again.

9

Burn, baby, burn...!

by EdenOne in

i had to clear space in my shelves for new books that keep arriving.

so... out with the "old light"!

we got rid of all spares and duplicates and only kept one of each for the sake of memorabilia.

dubstepped

I tried burning some when we went camping for our first Christmas and they didn't work well as kindling. I could hardly get them to burn. Maybe it was the fact that it had rained and everything was damp, but the books/tracts/magazines should have been dry. I wanted to burn them so badly, but they weren't burning clean so I just brought most of them home. I'll have to try again.

73

Im sick of my life

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

sorry but i really feel like i need to rant right now.

recently my dad was made an elder so my family has been doing a lot more "theocratic" activities lately.

every morning i wake up and put on my itchy dress and stupid makeup and heels and then pretend that i love what i'm doing and that everybody is my friend when in reality i feel horrible and all the other teenage girls at my hall hate me for some reason.

dubstepped

Blackwolf, I like the Calm app that is free for your phone. It is some good guided meditations. My brain naturally races and I've named myself "Mr. Anxiety" at points in my life, but meditation is really good. It isn't about ridding your mind of thoughts, but rather separating yourself from them and watching them go by as an impartial observer. It really helps you realize that you are not your thoughts. They're just a train passing by. If you get distracted, just go back to paying attention to your breathe or whatever. It kind of takes you out of your head.