Posts by mamochan13

25

Are there things you can't get rid of?

by faundy in

for instance, i still can't bring myself to say 'bless you' when someone sneezes.

i still cringe when saying 'good luck' and even now i feel i am being really naughty when shopping for a birthday card for someone.

.

mamochan13

For me it took time and a deliberate effort to do certain things. Most things I really enjoy now - voting is a biggie for me, and I really like being able to join in singing Happy Birthday (my 2 year old granddaughter's favourite song!).

I have to confess, though, that I find Christmas a bit much - the first few years we went all out and made it a big deal, but I found that everyone in my family was getting edgy and unhappy and sometimes it was not turning out well at all. At first I had the awful thought that maybe things weren't going well because there was something wrong in celebrating Xmas (the deeply ingrained JW paranoia). Then I realized that we had never had the opportunity to develop a tradition around xmas, so in many ways it feels forced and artificial. I think it's important to try and make each of these things your own (hehe - sounds like a JW song, don't it?) rather than try to just imitate how "the world" does them. I'm quite comfortable now picking and choosing the things I want to celebrate or participate in, like normal people! - not everyone says "bless you" for example, not everyone celebrates Halloween, some of us feel uncomfortable with blood transfusions as a medical treatment - just because we are now free to do these things doesn't mean we have to do them.

53

How FAST can you type?

by JH in

jw
friends

take the test and see .

i remember in high school, i was able to type at 40 words per minute after counting my errors, and they way they counted it, if i remember well, was your total words minus the errors you made to give an approximate speed.. here is the test.

it's only a fun quiz so don't be mad if i type faster than you .

mamochan13

Net speed 95 WPM

Accuracy 98%

Gross 96 WPM

Of course, my current work is transcribing, so it's expected. Now if only I could do everything else in my life that quickly! (i.e. wash dishes 95 clean plates per minute)

20

A JW kid story

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

she is twenty.. as a teen i was very aggressive in her getting taught from the live forever book, om.

she studied my book of bible stories and young people ask!

she was obediant and compliant.

mamochan13

thank you for sharing that, Purps. I have daughters, too, who have gone through many of the things your daughter has. Unfortunately when it first started to happen with one of them I was still mired in JW thinking and took the "theocratic" way of dealing with rebellious/wordly children, "conditional love", and told her she had to leave the house. I still feel a great deal of guilt for my actions. Fortunately I didn't lose her forever, and we are now close - she always tells me that one of the best things I ever did was leave the JWs and encourage all of them to follow me (which they all did, thank goodness!)

I respect you for how you dealt with your daughter with unconditional love. You are so right when you say that you had to leave the organization to be able to do it.

18

Shunning is Officially Psychological Torture!!

by Maddie in

jw
friends

i found an interesting article in the wikipedia encyclopedia.

it actually states that "shunning" is used as a method of psychological torture.. psychological torture is less well known than physical torture and tends to be subtle and much easier to conceal.

in practice the distinction between physical and psychological torture are often blurred.

mamochan13

yes. Nice to have it validated, I suppose, but those of us who have experienced it already know that it is not only psychological torture that can leave deep and long term scarring, but can lead to death.

It would be nice if one day as Mary says, it is made illegal. I doubt that day will come, though, since religious freedom trumps individual anguish.

22

We survived our first Canadian halloween!

by Simon in

jw
friends

it was great fun.

i rigged up a fog machine on the porch and spent the evening scaring small children.

you can't get a better night imo.

mamochan13

Sounds like fun! It was very quiet up here, I didn't have anyone even ring my bell! My kids all went to their big halloween party on the weekend. But you are right - the weather was great - usually we have snow on Halloween, so you must have brought good weather with you.

A belated welcome to Canada, by the way.

Mamo

25

Famous JW's

by jwfacts in

i have updated my page on famous jws.

it is by far the most viewed part of my site.

it seems michelle rod, and michael jackson are far more popular searches than 1914 or jehovah.. i still need to add some quotes that identify each individual as a jw, but i thought you may enjoy the list.

mamochan13

Canadian musician K-os

37

What is with the JW hate towards the depressed?

by 5go in

why do they treat the like the have sinned a great sin ( oh wait i might of answered it doh!

) when they are just down a bit..

mamochan13

This attitude isn't limited to JWs - many people have difficulty around depression. They don't understand it, they think you can just snap out of it, and they fear the behaviour depression often causes. Even many health professionals don't get it, particularly suicide - I continue to be amazed at the attitudes I hear from nurses, even some counsellors, that suicide is "selfish" "easy way out for lazy people", etc. Ridiculous!

I think with JWs, though, its worse because of all the factors others have already mentioned, plus the general fear JWs have towards seeking professional mental health help. Elders/prayer/more meeting attendance should fix everything, right? Don't go to see a wordly counsellor, you might commit the unforgiveable sin and bring reproach on the organization if you tell them your problems (I was actually told that by an active JW when I was seeing a psychiatrist)

There is greater awareness around depression and mental illness in some circles, but there is still a huge stigma. One way to fight it is through education - and again, this is where JWs lose out.

8

1969 Awake on Education becomes a video, Youtube

by Wasanelder Once in

here's a video of the 1969 awake article entitled, what future for the young?.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yplcgdx-vrm.

take a look,.

mamochan13

Unfortunately I don't have paper copies going back that far - I'd love to have a scan too. However, I clearly remember that article and listening to the video brought it all back. I'm sure it's being quoted verbatim from what I remember. I was part of a group of young people making education decisions at the time and the article was used repeatedly as a way to "guide" us. Many of my peers actually quit high school because of it and went pioneering. Some of us finished grade 12, but none of us went any further.

42

Who Pioneered?

by sass_my_frass in

jw
friends

my two sisters did the right thing, pioneering straight out of school, janitoring to pay for the petrol (one didn't even bother with her final year of school).

it was this kind of fine example that got me guilt-tripped into auxiliary pioneering just after getting baptised at age 20. i only lasted six months; i took a holiday in queensland and returned not knowing much more about life but at least that it's bigger than my little congregation.

i despised the field service, i dreaded the daily schedule and every morning i was on my way out there was this awful countdown from the alarm going off to the first door opening, knowing that it's just a big setup to another depressing humiliation.

mamochan13

I "vacation" pioneered (boy that dates us, eh?) while still in school, then applied to regular pioneer before I finished my final year of high school. Stuck with it for almost 4 years, including a stint in another country "where the need was great".

Because I had a non-JW father I always had to fight for any kind of respect, so I enjoyed the extra level of prestige pioneering gave - although even that was relative. I was very sincere and really did try hard to be the best pioneer I could be. It was a very difficult job at times, particularly when you saw the minimal effort most others in the cong. were making.

78

100 reasons to love Canada.

by jeeprube in

.

1. crown royal.

mamochan13

Are you thinking of Second City, looking-glass? SCTV

and I'll add: Nanaimo Bars. Kraft dinner. Saskatoons. Trivial Pursuit.