have you ever met and had chance to talk to someone "famous"?
maybe an actor, politician, musician?
if you have were they different from their public persona?
I lived and worked in NYC so I have met many celebrities over the years.
The ones that stand out are, Vanessa Williams - I tried to hit on her but she flatly turned me down... her lost.
and Halle Berry - I really liked her but I was really star strucked and on a business lunch with a client so I really didn't get much face time with her.
She is even more beautiful in person.
I also met Charleston Heston - Arrogant short son of a bitch.
it was the 14th of april last year that i had to sit my mother down and tell her i was an apostate.. i was closer to her than anyone else.
my father and mother are still married, but he let her raise me as a witness, and that meant it was me and mom.. me and mom in field service for 100 hours in july because she had to make her time as a regular pioneer.. me and mom fighting over what to bring for lunch to the district convention.. me and mom up late at night, when she would berate me, and then unload all her problems on to me.. me and mom and our 4 hour family studies, where we discuss 2 paragraphs of a random book, and then she would browbeat me until early in the morning.. somehow, through all that, i pretended to be a witness for years, just to appease her.
looking back, i don't know if i loved her, or if i was just afraid of her.
Richie, you are truly wise beyond your years.
I do know how you feel, I went through a simliar expereince with my Mom years ago.
It took us years to reconcile and now we have guarded, but honest relationship.
Who knows what the future will bring for you, your mom or your dad.
With time both of you may feel differently and at that point you can develop a relationship thats built on mutual respect for each others belief.
As many other posters have mentioned, I am sure you have a bright future ahead of you.
Go Get It!
the wife and i went to see this film today.
wow it blew me away.
it was a combination of apocalyptic futurism, a chase film, a love story, classic mythos, a contemporary political allegory with a taste of theism all in one.
I saw it as well. I liked it but visually it was a little too dark for my taste.
I would recommend it.
anyone here have any experiences with the company directbuy?
we are planning to remodel our kitchen, bathroom and replace windows & siding in our house, so we feel like we can bet back the membership fee over time.
some of their sales tactics does raise some red flags like you must join the day of your visit or you will never be offered a membership again, ever.
What is the cost of a membership?
if you've already been 'announced' and were at the kingdom hall to hear it, how did it feel?
i think when my time comes i may be there.
a part of me says "sod 'em", but another part wants them to see how happy i am.. hmmm, not sure..
Yes, I did attend when I was DFed.
I wasn't going to let the elders think they had defeated me and, since I had several family members and friends in the congo, I knew it was going to be hard on them to hear my announcement and I wanted them to know that I wasn't deserting them. It was now their choice as to whether or not they were going to desert me.
a thread on the last page made me remember something from my early childhood.
remember congregation picnics and other outings?
i remember when i was little, probably only 4 - 5 years old; there was a huge congregation picnic at a park with food, games, etc.
This is an interesting topic. I grew up in Brooklyn NY in the 70's and 80's not far from bethel. We always had at least 2 outings a year, one to a state park, and another to the farm up in Wallkill. We even would make a stop at the Brotherhood winery on the way home.
Needless to say, this was stopped once the Borg advised against large gatherings. Too bad, it was funny to see the elders get drunk on the wine tasting at the winery.
We also had many large gatherings and ski trips that were organized by local brothers within the circuit. Sometimes they were at a popular disco and the ski trips were usaul in the pocoonos in PA. First the ski trips were banned, too much drinking and the opportunity for immorality. Most of the people were 18 - 25 so everyone knows that they can't be trusted around sex and liqour.
Then after a particularly infamous gathering at a popular disco that was scheduled the Saturday of a District Assembly, a huge witch hunt insued where any one who attended was questioned about liqour consumption and "loose conduct". Needless to say, Large gathering were banned.
It was a shame because it actually was the most enjoyable thing about being a dub, the chance to get together with all the young people in the circuit and have good clean fun. In reality there were few instances where someone actually did something considered wrong. Most of us we good kids and pretty naive, about sex and drinking.
The one bad experinece I remember is that once me and two other friends worked with a brother who owned a travel agency and he set up a ski trip for about 60 of us dubs.
Two days before we realized that he had embezzeled the money, and we were going to have to cancel the trip.
Fortunately the ski resort felt sorry for us and allowed us to pay a much discounted rate, although me and my 2 friends had to forfiet our free trip for organizing the affair.
At the end it all worked out although the brother who embezzeled our money was reproved.
every so often i get to share some of my thooughts about the borg and my new found beliefs with my mom , who is a die hard pioneer for over 20 years.. we actually have had decent conversations about doctrines and interpertations of the scriptures, and she has admitted that at times the borg may have misapplied certain scriptures over the years.. her excuse is that imperfect men sometimes make mistakes and jehovah makes allowances for this.. but what really gets her upset is when i bring up certain aspects of my childhood, that because of her belief in the borg, she made some unwise decisions for not only me be her family.. me getting baptized at 13, her not being fully supportive of higher education, cutting off family members, pushing me into an early marriage when i was clearly not ready, teaching me that all "worldly people', including my father woiuld die at armageddon, these are just a few examples that when we discuss them, she becomes extremely angry and then accuses me of making her out to be a bad mother.. i got me thinking, do you think that many dubs refuse to acknowledge the problems with their religion because it would mean that they made some really bad decsions in their and their families lives.. are they afraid to accept the responsiblity for this because of the guilt they would suffer?.
what are your thoughts?
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Thanks everyone for sharing.
Some very good advice. It probably doesn't help that usually when we have this discussion its because my Mom still condones the same behavoior in her friends when that treat their children the way she treated me.
Most of the time I am pretty vocal about encouraging dub kids to go to college or how only godless people would shunn especially their own children just because they got in "trouble".
My hope is that my mom would support her friends in breaking the cycle of abuse within her circle.
I don't dare hope that she herself will ever see the light.
one of my clients who also happens to be close friend went mia for most of last week.
i called him a few times with out a response from him, so i assumed he was sick and would get back to me when he felt better.. i spoke with him this morning and he was very depressed, apparently his wife of 9 years admitted to him last week that their 6 year old son may not be his.. apparently she had an affair with a man about 7 years ago for 2 months.
he was traveling to the west coast every other week for business at the time, but he never had a clue.. he is upset and fuming mad.
I'll update you guys on what happens, but knowing my friend his first priority will be the mental and financial health of his ? son.
I spoke with his dad and his family is prepared to support him in whatever he decides to do.
My advice to him is to be careful in how he treats his wife in this matter, because it all will have an effect on the son. Kids don't always understand why adults do the things they do, and it would be very easy fo this kid to feel that all of this is his fault, which could have terrible consequences for all later on in life.
It's a tough call and I know these next few weeks are going to be hard on the entire family.
one of my clients who also happens to be close friend went mia for most of last week.
i called him a few times with out a response from him, so i assumed he was sick and would get back to me when he felt better.. i spoke with him this morning and he was very depressed, apparently his wife of 9 years admitted to him last week that their 6 year old son may not be his.. apparently she had an affair with a man about 7 years ago for 2 months.
he was traveling to the west coast every other week for business at the time, but he never had a clue.. he is upset and fuming mad.
I am not sure what brought up the subject of paternity, but I know that the husband's parents made a few sharp comments about how the wife doesn't partake of any of the Holiday celebrations.
I attended one of the parties and his Dad said to me that he has had about enough of his daughter in laws religion and he was disappointed that this year she would not allow their son to attend Christmas eve at his grandparents home.
Knowing my friend he probably started an argument about this with his wife and she probably just blurted it out.
Both are hot heads and stubborn.
i have not been to a meeting for some years now so i would not know if it has been said ,but have the witnesses actually been told straight out not to read the harry potter books?
i ask this because my in-laws have seen me reading them and now think i am into evil stuff because i have them .
so is it just them or is this what is now taught in the orginization?
They are strongly encouraged not to read or see anything to do with Harry Potter.
I made the mistake of suggesting buying the DVD for my Godson whose parents are Dubs. The had a fit.
The Lord of the Rings is also forbidden.
