A means to an end?

by ozziepost 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  ozziepost

  I started pioneering, mainly to qualify for privileges like International construction work, with my husband. We didn't have a retirement plan, and it didn't look like we would be able to save enough money to live on when retirement came, and some young friends suggested the International work to us, and we liked the idea. My husband started working at Brooklyn (another requirement), about twice a year

  These words from a post by Mulan relating some of her experience got me pondering about the way the Borg offers 'privileges'.

  It goes without saying that a Dub is required to 'qualify' for any and all duties, whether it be car park attendant to serving as an elder. But have you considered that 'qualifying' permeates the whole lifestyle of a Dub. Even when a person is studying to become a Witness they soon learn 'the ropes'. Yes, they will need to qualify in order to be allowed to be baptised. And how will they qualify? They must have a regular share in field service. Okay, that seems fine but it doesn't stop there. In order to go witnessing they must 'qualify' to be an unbaptised publisher (UBP). And how do they do that? They must demonstrate their works of sincerely wanting to be a Dub. And how do they do that? ...And so on. You get the picture?

  Think of the areas where Dubs are coerced to doing something in order to gain something else.

  1. Regular field service before getting baptised.

  2. Pioneering in order to get to Bethel.

  3. Pioneering in order to get to MTS.

  4. Regular meeting attendance before getting re-instated.

  5. Live away from home before applying for MTS.

  Can you think of any more?

  As a closing thought, how different are these words:

  "You received free, give free" (Matthew 10:8)

  "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7)

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate."

  
  - Ron Hutchcraft Surviving the Storms of Stress
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  TR

  Yes, like a carrot on a stick being dangled endlessly in front of one's face. The stick that is permanently attached to the head is WT indoctrination, the carrot is that elusive "prize" that is strived for.

  Just imagine the JWs you see out in "service", or at an assembly, or at a meeting. You can almost see that stick mounted to their heads. You can almost see that carrot as the JW reaches and reaches but alas, the carrot is dangling just out of reach of their desperately seeking eyes and hands.

  There is hope, though. Many have successfully removed the "stick" from their head, but sometimes it leaves a scar. What about the carrot? Sadly, it withered, died, and disappeared, because it was never there in the first place.

  Yes indeed, Ozzie, this is the WTS "means to and end" in reality.

  Good post.

  TR

  UADNA-WA
  Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America- Washington Division
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  lauralisa

  Hi Ozzie,

  First of all, please accept my sympathies for the ordeal you are enduring these days. Your "heart condition" is in my opinion right up there with some of the most wonderful humans I've known or read about.

  I'm responding to this post because just last night I was pondering over a few things. On another thread posted by flower there is a lot of discussion about anxiety and depression and a good amount of struggling for "identity"; confusion about how to form opinions or preferences or make choices etc. without the "structure" of the borg.

  In the ensuing responses there were many compassionate replies. I also noticed there were many suggestions for things for her to get involved with in order for her to discover what her likes/dislikes are and to have the opportunity to meet other people.

  I've always been curious about the tendency people have to self-reference by the things they DO; in my therapy hey-days there was a mantra of sorts that was reiterated constantly: "You are a human BEING, not a human DOING..." The objective of course was to learn to believe you are of value just because you are alive, and not because you have to earn it through achievements or accomplishments which impress others - providing one with a sense of security or self worth of course.

  It got me thinking of jw's and how deeply enmeshed they are in the "human DOING" thing. I can not recall ever being introduced to anyone or having anyone described to me without some kind of qualifying "position" being the predominant emphasis. A sister's son is not just her son, he "auxiliary pioneers periodically" and wants to go to Bethel; a single sister's romantic attraction to a man is related not in terms of his unique personality characteristics, but in his ambition for "privileges" and history of acquiring them; an older widowed sister who has many wonderful charming attributes is described in terms of how frequently she provides lunch for the visiting various luminarious overseers.....

  Each and every individual in the congregations in the entire world is classified according to the currently available "titled" positions withing the organization. Their value (read: perceived status) to the congregation is predicated upon their lable.

  No wonder individuals who exit the confines of the WTS are flailing about, missing the safe "spiritual niche" trying to see where they "fit" into a society in general, which does not have such clearly defined, easily obtained identifying markers. *(MS! Magazine counter kid! Pioneer! Pioneer's child! Elder's child! Pioneer's house cleaner/babysitter! Parent of Bethelite! Neighbor of pioneer (whose kid is in Bethel!) who gets to accompany neighbor pioneer to special "pioneer school lunches!" Pioneer wannabe!)*

  I ended up amusing myself with the concept of the borg being just like the military with their pins and stars and bars and hats and uniforms and obligatory authority hierarchy structure.

  Then I finally fell asleep.

  Warm thoughts to you, Ozzie,

  lauralisa
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  ozziepost

  G'day Lauralisa,

  Very interesting thoughts. I find in my own case that I'm still falling into the same mode of 'labelling', i.e. 'qualifying', people in conversations and Mrs Ozzie firmly corrects me!

  It's very hard to get out of the Watchtower mindset and I've been told by more experienced ones who have gone down this track that it can take up to 20 years!

  The road to freedom is a long one, it seems.

  Thanks for the greetings.

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate."

  
  - Ron Hutchcraft Surviving the Storms of Stress