Inspired or Guilted by the One-legged Pioneer Sister?

by compound complex 29 Replies latest jw friends

  • exwitless
    exwitless
    How come "turned on" isn't a choice?

    An experience I do remember hearing for real was about a woman who was in very poor health, in a wheelchair, etc. who came to EVERY SINGLE MEETING. It took her hours to get ready and get herself to the hall. She always sat near the back of the hall. An elder noticed from the [pulpit] (I can't remember the right dub word for this) that this woman would have tears running down her face for the first half hour of every meeting. Finally he asked her why, and she said that the pain is so bad from her getting ready and traveling and it doesn't settle down for about 30 minutes. He asked her how/why she was able to endure this 3 times a week. She said 'because the love she felt from the brothers and the spiritual upbuilding she felt always made it worth all the physical pain.

    Here's another doozy:

    A woman was blind, deaf, and disabled but ALWAYS attended the meetings (not sure if she came with family or if someone always picked her up). She could only come and just sit at the meetings. When someone asked her why she "bothered" to come because she couldn't see or hear or benefit from being there, she responded that she came because the minute she enters the KH, she can feel Jehovah's holy spirit, and she felt so uplifted by it at every meeting.

    Moral of the story: even if you're blind, deaf, disabled, in tremendous pain, fighting off crocodiles, walking 20 miles to the KH in a blizzard going uphill both ways, etc., you can and should be at every meeting. No excuses.

  • caligirl
    caligirl

    Stuff like that never worked on me. I rolled my eyes every time I heard one of those"inspriring" tall tales. And I don' t believe that any of them were invented to inspire. They were definitely invented to guilt.

  • loosie
    loosie
    When someone asked her why she "bothered" to come because she couldn't see or hear or benefit from being there

    I bet if she could hear what was going on she would have not come back.

  • poppers
    poppers

    From ninja: "compared to the woman in the iron lung...she was a borderline apostate slacker"

    ROFLMAO! I love the way you get right to the point.

  • Bobbi
    Bobbi

    Those stories always made me gag a little. Then later the guilt would kick in. I think i hate that one legged pioneer sister.

  • exwitless
    exwitless

    Does anyone actually know someone like the ones they always guilted us about? Is there really a one-legged, 10-children, 120 per month pioneer with 3 jobs out there? Were any of you JWD'ers that dedicated?

  • compound complex
    compound complex

    Thank you, Friends, for your gut-wrenching, er, heart-rending responses. Yes, ExW, some of us were NEARLY that dedicated to the cause of the TRUTH. Coercion and manipulation truly molded this little lump of clay - that would be moi - into a dutiful and obedient automaton.
    Thank you for the inspiration for this timely and dead-serious thread! [BTW, what does the expression "turn-on" mean? Like how do you turn a Bethel light on?]

    CoCo the Non-Comedian

  • Bangalore
    Bangalore

    Bttt.

    Bangalore

  • Broken Promises
    Broken Promises

    Yes, I remember these sob stories intended to guilt us into doing more.

    They used to work on me, until my BS meter finally started working. Then I thought, stuff it, I have to look after myself, I don't care what other people do. If they want to pioneer, great - let them! In the meantime, I'll deal with my own problems and let everyone else take care of theirs too.

  • White Dove
    White Dove

    It's stories like those that make the JW's hard hearted when someone has a real need, like interpreting at the meetings and preferential seating so it's effective.

    Also, those stories made others wonder why I can't manage 75 mile drives for each meeting every week to the ASL congregation.

    In comparison to those stories, my petty concerns were just nothing at all, and I lacked motivation and was weak.

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