Posts by JWdaughter

37

Help me...!

by OneDayillBeFree in

jw
friends

lost my job, just a week before making the final arrangements to move into my very own apartment.. got a speeding ticket on the following sunday for trying to make it to the meeting "on time", (never made it to the hall, just parked in the back of a shopping center for 2 hours in silence).. marked by the elders for quitting pioneering, no more commenting and "failing to adhere to bible counsel".. jw family sees me as a disappointment.

non-jw family is too far away to care.. found out ex-girlfriend got df'ed and is now pregnant.

puts some of the blame on me for how things turned out.. realizing that she's not entirely wrong as i was still an ignorant, kiss-ass, die hard jwdub when we started dating, always putting the "kingdom interests first" never having time for her since "the end was so freaking close" and then warping her up in the mess of me learning ttatt.. dwelling night after night in "what could have been" if i had never been a jw.. alternating between being a theist, atheist and agnostic on a daily basis to the point where i don't care anymore yet getting creeped the f*ck out when facing my own mortality and the thought of me dying alone.. always coming to the same conclusion, when i find myself alone on friday nights and weekends, that i have no actual friends, only two conditional jw "friends" which are both currently out of town for about a month and 0 real, non-jw friends.. haven't been able to sleep well in literally weeks now.

JWdaughter

It looks like you took a deep breath and got some perspective-that's good! There is a adage that you take all your troubles and separate the ones you actually have control over, the ones you have no control over. Ignore the ones you have no control over and deal with the rest. Ex's--water under bridge. Job-you are already taking steps. Ticket? Write a letter to the court and find out how you can challenge the ticket (even though you paid). You don't want it on your record. You usually have some recourse, even though it seems a done deal now.

Moving away? Heck, if you can afford it and you can deal with losing the connections (and chains) that bind you to that place, it might be a good option for you. Disappearing is one good way to fade away. No exes, elders or whatever dogging you. Make sure that you don't cut any ties that you will actualy regret (one good reason to move is that you can fade if you wish)

You are going to be ok. You DO have friends and you do have support. You can get a new job (Houston is a great place to work and not $$$ to live in. And it was 72 degrees today and PERFECT with sunshine. Just saying

9

My friend's Mom apologized to her kids for teaching them lies!

by Hortenzie in

she has been a witness most of her life.

her three kids were brought up as jw in a communist country and the whole family suffered reprisals from the regime for being in the org.

(father was well know elder).

JWdaughter

That's a loving mom. I'm glad they were blessed with a mother who could be strong AND humble. She will have children who always have reason to honor her and respect that she really was doing what she thought was right-and when she knew otherwise, she corrected. How many do that?

33

American Drone Strike Kills 13 people in a wedding party

by fulltimestudent in

if americans want to understand the reservoir of hate for them that is building up against them - then ask how you would feel?.

reference: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21879956-officials-us-drone-strike-kills-13-in-yemen-wedding-convoy?lite.

officials: us drone strike kills 13 in yemen wedding convoyby ahmed al-haj, the associated press.

JWdaughter

Fulltimestudent:I say it with some authority as I lived for years (recently) in the Middle East/North Africa region. I am family with Pakistanis and Egyptians. I am dear friends with Syrians, Lebanese, Saudi, Palestinians, Sudanese, etc. I hear the conversations and I see the pain.

Most are mad at governments who oppress. Ours is just a visiting one and strength and level of death that we bring to the fight horrifies them, but generally someone is bringing it anyway. They hate when we help oppressors, but they are really fed up with their own people,ignorant and uneducated in every way, being duped by power hungry despots (whether the govt. or the revolutionaries or the guerillas).

The more educated are desperate for real educational reform in their home countries. They see the principles of the true Islam in our country in many ways (not all), and that is why just about everyone STILL wants to be in America. I got nothing but love, kindness and appreciation over there (except forone taxi driver who was offended at my level of arabic after living there for years.)

15

Personal rules I live by when talking to Christians

by free2beme in

jw
friends

as a former witnesses, i have spoken to tons and tons of christians since my exit.

some want to convert me to their faith, heal me of what they see as false information in my youth and so on.

when ever i speak to them, not being a christian now, i have certain things that guide me.

JWdaughter

I'm thinking the OP is having some very short conversations.

I try to find common ground,but then,I HAVE some as I am a believer. In God, anyway.

20

Your Apartment Stories, Please

by Bendrr in

jw
friends

this is my first weekend in my new apartment.

so that gave me the idea to start a fun thread.. how about your apartment stories?

favorite/least favorite apartment you've had or maybe now live in?

JWdaughter

Last summer I lived in Egypt and was getting ready to move back home so I took a bag of kitchen supplies/equipment to my next door neighbor, a Sri Lankan Christian man who had previously been nice enough.

Because of the lighting system, after a few seconds, the light by the front doors in the hallway goes out. I had my flat door open, but I guess not much light drifted through. It was about the middle of September and anyone watching the news would think that Cairo was a hotbed of unrest. Anyone living there knew differently (at the time, mind you!), but apparently this guy wasn't paying attention to the actual city that he lived in (to be fair, we lived close to the edge and he worked farther outside the central area at a large clothing factory and took long hours at work.)

So, by the time he got to the door, the landing light was off and he couldn't see me well. My nice, female, middle aged self was rather shocked to be greeted at the door by the terrified man holding a LOADED pistol (of some sort, I'm not a handgun kinda gal). He told me he was scared because of the news. Well, we lived in a very secure, locked building and had a gate guard, to boot! PLUS, we only had 3 apartments in the entire building-our upstairs neighbor owned it and there was a preschool downstairs).

I kinda forgive him for scaring the sh*t outa me, but OTOH, I turned on the internet as soon as I got back in to see if something happened that actually warranted his panic (another soccer ruckus in Tahrir!) and found that my dear friend and prom date from HS had just died. That was a really crap day. And its my only dramatic apartment story except for the crack vial I found while living in the Bronx in 1987. The only shocking thing is probably that I only found ONE there in nearly a year at the flat. Wait, I managed an apartment once where we had a suicide (glad I wasn't that clean up crew!) and the head manager yelled at the family of the tenant who killed himself(he was using steroids-DON'T DO IT) about the deposit. The manager was an evil old biddy.Nothing good to say there, I'm afraid!

33

American Drone Strike Kills 13 people in a wedding party

by fulltimestudent in

if americans want to understand the reservoir of hate for them that is building up against them - then ask how you would feel?.

reference: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21879956-officials-us-drone-strike-kills-13-in-yemen-wedding-convoy?lite.

officials: us drone strike kills 13 in yemen wedding convoyby ahmed al-haj, the associated press.

JWdaughter

Desirous of Change said,
"Thinking that any citizen of the Middle East could have stopped the 19 terrorists is the same as thinking that any average american has any say about the drone strikes"

I think that is kind of profound and that point was lost years ago. All reason fled because of the dramatic, horrific nature of 9-11. We got played by a very (relative) few men-and we gave them a real show. Still are.they are dead and we are still reacting to them. And we think we are the sophisticated ones. Uh, huh.

33

American Drone Strike Kills 13 people in a wedding party

by fulltimestudent in

if americans want to understand the reservoir of hate for them that is building up against them - then ask how you would feel?.

reference: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21879956-officials-us-drone-strike-kills-13-in-yemen-wedding-convoy?lite.

officials: us drone strike kills 13 in yemen wedding convoyby ahmed al-haj, the associated press.

JWdaughter

The vast majority of the people do not have any level of hate for all of America, but they are going to NOT trust that the military or the government will act in their interest in any way. Would you love the people that bust up your wedding parties with guns and missles? Would you trust them to act in your interest ever?

221

What JW catch phrase DRIVES YOU NUTS!!!!

by megaflower in

jw
friends

"we should be mindful".

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

JWdaughter

"In this wicked system of things"

20

Do You Think Anyone Looks Down On People Who Commit "Fornication"?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i think only in strict religious circles, is it considered taboo.. does someone's "fornicating" bother you?.

JWdaughter

I don't think too much about fornication, per se. I do consider sleeping around recklessly to be stupid and yes, immoral. There are too many consequences from sex to treat it as mere sport. The hook up culture, picking up people at bars, all the stuff that results in disease and horrible childhoods spent with only one parent (if that) or visits to abortion clinics repeatedly. . . working with women and children, I see too much. I see men with second families, children who don't know their siblings, and in the end, it is usually women who pay for "fornication" socially and economically the most. Physically, too. Whether you believe in a god or in THE God, or NOT, one can deduce why social mores about 'fornication' came about.

Thats my opinion and as I have been guilty of the aforementioned behavior and experienced the consequences and choices of it, I am speakig my own truth and from my own observations doing social work. This hurts women and the children (whether aborted or born) the most. No, children are not an inevitable consequence, but they are quite a natural one!

38

Walk into your Kingdom Hall and tell us what you saw !

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

this was me driving into the parking lot and into the kingdom hall:.

every week the same brothers and sisters are late getting to the meeting.

elders are talking with other elders ( who always have notes and folders in their hands).

JWdaughter

I always looked forward to the part of the service meeting where they did local needs. Often spurred some speculative gossip, but the BEST part was when they gave us some tidbit (didn't make it in the WT/Awake that let us think "THIS IS REALLY IT! THE END IS REALLY AT HAND, NOW" because the presidennt or pope got shot or they made some other pointed reference. . . ah, those were the days. OH and the awkward demonstrations by the sons of the MS who SO wanted to be an elder-that he beat his kids to make them go to the meetings that they clearly hated and every word, move etc they made showed it to one and all. And YET, they toed the line enough to not get kicked out. Cause they needed a place to live, I'm guessing.