The false pride of a "Window Washer"

by LDH 44 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  LDH

  Dis, I just saw this:

  It is amazing how many still, to this day do the janitorial thing. Some of the ones I know have been doing it for 25-30 years. I tried doing that myself back in the early 80's. How unfulfilling it was for me @ the time. You'd think that by now they'd want to shift gears and do something else. But no, they continue to stick with it, largely in part because they know nothing else.

  25 years would be about right. My 20th high school reunion is this summer. And you know what? If you love to do it, knock yerself out. But please, not under the auspices that the fine job you do cleaning windows, toilets, houses, serves as some sort of "beacon of light."

  Lisa

  PS Silent, I'm not sure I would be the first to comment on poor taste, what with getting blown by she-bears and all.
• 

  Nathan Natas

  God knows Lisa doesn't need any help from me; in fact, she may even PREFER that I not "help," so I won't. But I'll side with Lisa and her so-called "bitchiness" anyday, BECAUSE SHE'S RIGHT. Far to be preferred over some other people's sanctimoniousness.

  As for mentioning names, Lisa wasn't slandering anyone, nor was she disclosing anyone's secret identity. Events in the real world happen to people who have names. Newspapers and TV reporters know this. Using a person's proper name in a non-slanderous (that is, TRUE) story helps to answer the "WHO?" of the story. So I side with Lisa again, and again, probably against her will.

  "[Something] happened to [somebody] [somewhere]. [Censured] film at Eleven."
• 

  Cellist

  Lisa,

  I agree with you. No matter how good a job you do, at whatever you do, it isn't going to make people think you're religion is great. When the bank teller does her job well, I don't ask her what church she goes to. I don't even think about religion. etc., etc. for all the other jobs, except maybe Pastor.

  Cellist
• 

  ballistic

  I will say it is bad "netiquette" to use people's full names on the internet without their permission.
• 

  upside/down

  My wife and I made over 6 figures a year....cleaning.

  From a Witnoid point of view...I was it.

  I HATED IT...but thought there was nothing much better for a "pioneer" in "this old system".

  Fortunately nature blessed me with sharp survival skills...

  I actually walked away from FREE education that I'd earned in order to serve a deaf/mute deity...oh well.

  NEVER AGAIN!!!

  u/d(of the glad my kids won't have to go thru what I did class)
• 

  ringo5

  They lived in a basement apartment that was about 500 square feet. The living room doubled as a bedroom, with a pull out sofa bed. My walk in closet is bigger than their kitchen. For this privilege, they paid $150 a month. (It would have been a great bargain for a college student!) This, along with the fact that they drove a late model sedan (perfect for FS--back when gas was cheap) meant that they really didn't have a lot of expenses.

  
  
  So I’m not sure, are you saying it was cognitive dissonance that was keeping them from noticing they didn’t have a big enough apartment? Or that they shouldn’t be happy with just a few “things”?
  
  Perhaps cleaning was not your thing for one reason or another[ sounds like you aspire to having big closets] but I don’t think this is something that’s gonna turn a light bulb on in any lurker’s minds. I’m guessing that "Ken" left you with the impression that witnesses who clean, feel that by doing a good job they are also giving a good witness. I don’t think they’re alone in thinking this, I’m sure many witnesses feel the same, whatever their job/ career/ profession/menial task happens to be.
  I’d LOVE to have a way to clear my family’s minds of all this cultish thinking, but I don't think pointing out that they aren’t qualified to do anything more than clean is going to do it.
  
  Otherwise good story….
• 

  LDH

  When the bank teller does her job well, I don't ask her what church she goes to. I don't even think about religion. etc., etc. for all the other jobs, except maybe Pastor.

  EXACTLY!!!!

  Now what if, in her mind, she was doing an exemplary job for YEARS just hoping someone would notice what an honest Buddhist she was! Then, she could start a sales pitch conversation with the effort of converting you to Buddhism. Would you say she was maybe a little delusional? She could be nice as pie, yes?

  Ringo, I would say it's better to work at what you want in this life rather than draw pictures of your dream home in the New System TM while in Field Service like many of the pioneers did when I was "Pioneering." I may have a large closet, but I earned it the hard way, dammit. The thread is about cognitive dissonance, and self-denial based on a faulty pattern of reasoning. "Jehovah will make it up to me in the New System" TM Do you know what an asetic is? There are some people who are true asetics. I'm sorry your family is stuck in this crap cult, too.

  Thanks NN, I appreciate that! I always read your thoughts and comments twice, because, well, they're worth reading.

  For the record, Ken truly loved to clean windows. I can't remember about Debbie.

  Lisa

  Get busy living or get busy dying Class
• 

  ringo5

  The thread is about cognitive dissonance, and self-denial based on a faulty pattern of reasoning.

  
  
  Do you know what cognitive dissonance means? It’s about the inconsistency between one’s beliefs and one’s actions. There's a lot less inconsistency with “Ken’s” beliefs and actions than with the “materialistic” dubs who on one hand believe the end is close and preach it to others yet are planning for a great retirement.
  I agree, they’re in self-denial based on a faulty pattern of reasoning, but your example does not show cognitive dissonance. Did you mean “ascetic”? By the very definition of the word “Ken” is living what he believes unlike many other so-called witnesses who are leading double lives.
  
  I'm pretty sure we’re on the same side here, but if I do get lucky and somehow get my brother to investigate his doubts by coming to this forum, I hope this is not the first thread he reads.
• 

  LDH

  That's cool, just remember there's a lid for every pot. What floats your boat might sink mine.

  Perhaps someone will read this and realize they've been cleaning toilets in anticipation of the New System......something that will sadly never be realized. Cognitive Dissonance = cleaning for 25 + years because the New System is "just around the corner."

  It's not like, if they just clean for 5 more years, it will work out! A lot of the pioneers I spent time with are dead. Paul Casper. Phyllis Myers, who although she didn't pioneer, was ALWAYS quick to offer a helping hand. Mary Jones, who gave me a pair of stockings when I was pioneering, and then another time gave me $5. Dead Dead Dead. So much wasted time, huh?

  But whatever. I probably didn't spell ascetic correctly. Besides working all day, I just finished a grant request for a non-profit agency that I volunteer time for. Plus, my freaking back hurts from getting rear ended at 45-50 mph while parked two weeks ago. The grant request had a deadline submission of midnight. I guess you can see I just made it.

  Lisa

  Time is *not* on your side Class
• 

  Utopian Reformist

  I knew an elder who later became an overseer (Lou Puerini of Cranston Rhode Island) who had a cleaning business. For years, many unskilled and under educated under achievers from the rank and file of several congregations in that area would work for a menial's hire and lull themselves into believing that they were rendering some holy tribute to Jehovah.
  
  Let me tell you, this elder certainly did or said nothing to dispell such ridiculous notions. Of course, why would he interfere with anyone's personal relationship with Jehovah, epsecially if he was profiting from their righteous riches in the form of labor. Anyway, after creating a very sucessful cleaning company with accounts like "Toys-R-Us", "Star Market" grocery stores and some other local mentionables, this brother sold the business to another elder from Huntington View congregation named Richard E. Fuller, that's right, my ex-father-in-law.
  
  Richard of course drove the business and the workers to the extreme and converted a six digit small business into a seven digit business. Due to physical demands only on everyone's health, he sold it to another brother. How do I know all of this and what does it all mean?
  
  Firstly, Lou Puerini was tutored in the truth as a study by my closest friend (who studied with me also) Mike Castro of Queens, NY. Mike gave me the skinny on Lou who once was a heroin addict and studied to chase the woman he fell in lvoe with, Dale.
  
  Anyway, the list of friends in cleaning taken advantage of by their own is endless and there is absolutely no spiritual value at all. It's a farce.