A question to people born in the Borg*

Abaddon

* That anyone can respond to even if they weren't born in, or even if they never were in the Borg

The question is;

"When do you first remember realising that YOU were a JW, and that the rest of the world wasn't?!

I was about four years old. I was in America on holiday with my parents. We went to a meeting (Concord, NH, I think), and after went to the house of a family of Dubs. I went upstairs and played with a boy around my age, and at some point he asked me if I was a Jehovah's Witness. I answered "Of course I am". And then realised that "Of course" wasn't strictly true, as other people were obviously not JW's.

People living in glass paradigms shouldn't throw stones...

teenyuck

Hi Abaddon!

I was about 5. When I was in school all the other children were catholic. We were the only JW children at our grade school. That made it dramatically clear the rest of the world was not!

Then having to go door to door to try to convince the rest of the world that they were wrong...as a 5 year old...well, every ex-JW, who grew up in the borg, who writes here has the same story...we all hated it.

ashitaka

Three, when my father announced to my mother that she couldn't celebrate Chritmas anymore, although she wasn't a witness. That went over well...{chuckle}....my mother just about threw every pot in the kitchen at him, and it was a small kitchen. She hit most of the time.

But, no matter how mad she was, he wouldn't let me go to Christmas at my mom's parents house that year. So, saying that she would feel like an ass if she did go, she stayed home.

Childhood was just fun, fun, fun after that.

ashi

Valentine

Hi Ab,
Like Ashi,I was about 3 when I really became aware of what the fighting was all about.Dad was Roman catholic. Mom (very zealous at that time) JW.
Every birthday,holiday was a fight,with xmas being the Battle Royale. They must have made some concessions,because for a few years we attended catholic schools,no xmas trees,no birthdays etc. So that must have been their deal. Easter was always a big blow up fight too.

We were not to attend mtgs w/ her,but she would sneak one or two of us w/ her . Dad caught her several times. She running to her room,locking the door,leaving we kids to catch the brunt of his anger. Cowardly bitch that she was/is.

Dad got back in his own little ways tho. As a child there would be several 'feasts' going on throughout the year,honoring some patron saint of the little italian towns the people in the area came from. ours was Saint Rocco.
There would be a procession down the streets. The saint or oftentimes Mother Mary carried on a platform of flowers on the shoulders of several men,led by the parish priest.
Sometimes music,sometimes incense ,with the usual contingent og older women in black bringing up the rear.

Well,the procession stops in front of shops,saloons etc. And Dad would come out of the taverna,pin some money on the statue and we would be allowed to kiss it's feet.

Mom finds out and did we catch another beating for that.

Sorry,I digress. Like I said I was about 3 when i recognized what the continual fighting was all about and that I was 'different'.Or should i say,began to feel torn divided loyalities that made me feel a misfit.
Just something that is indelibly in my psyche. hugs,Tina

Todays Affirmation:
The complete lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working.

Gopher

From the earliest year in school, kindergarten, I was not allowed to share in the holiday and birthday celebrations that the other kids had. And then from first grade (on through sixth grade), came the daily embarrassment known as "not sharing in the pledge of allegiance" to the American flag.

GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)

jukief

I can't ever remember a time when I *didn't* realize I was a JW. I was three years old when we attended the 1958 international assembly in Yankee Stadium; I have a blurred memory of that. My dad was an elder and my parents always took us out in service from the time we were babies. By five years of age, I was giving presentations at the doors and joined the ministry school at age seven. When I was eight years old and working house to house with my best friend, someone shot at us; I felt the projectile (don't know if it was a bullet or a bb) whiz past my face. Then about a year later, I was working door to door with an elderly brother when the householder booted him off the front porch, injuring him pretty severely. I guess you'd say I realized during my entire childhood that we were different. :-)

drahcir yarrum

The first day of grade school (First grade, I didn't attend kindergarten). Before I left for school, my mother spent about and hour reminding me how to behave during the flag salute. I'm sure that somewhere in my subliminal awareness, the trauma of that first day of school still lurks and is somehow responsible for my misanthropic ways.

Well, time for my pills. Later all!

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son." Dean Vernon Wormer, Faber College

Abaddon

Hehehehe... Once I'd started school, I wasn't allowed to attend the school assembly on Mondays and Wednesday's.

They sacrificed chickens... well, listened to a few aphorisms, sang a hymn "All things bright and boo-ti-ful" and had a prayer (we can pray in British schools, aren't we free?) ... I know 'cause I went in a few times as I loved singing so ... but, I wasn't allowed to attend. I just didn't get why.

As I lived around the corner from the school, I was allowed to turn up fifteen minutes late. Of course, this was considered very cool by my friends, but they wanted to know why.

I made up this silly story about how I lived on my Uncle's Farm at the weekend (and Tuesday nights!), and it took longer to get in. I wasn't a very good liar I guess, at least then. I lived in the centre of London!

Anyway, I was tortured with guilt by lying, and eventually decided to tell the truth, haha. So I said that my Uncle was selling his farm, and substituted the correct reasons (imadifferentreligion).

However, the Bitch who was my form tutor, who knew full well what the reasons were, made me TELL everyone about my Uncle's farm being sold, in detail. Argh! I can still remember the embaressment.

Thing is, I think none of my classmates thought it odd, cause no one said a thing. I was five though, so maybe I or they missed it.

People living in glass paradigms shouldn't throw stones...

Geordie

I always knew i wasnt the same as everyone else as my father wasnt a J/W. Neither were any of my extended family.
I think i was always aware that i was missing out on my childhood.
I was also aware that none of my worldly freinds were openly beaten by one of there parents.
I also remember needing an operation when i was young and my mother refusing to sign the form incase i needed a blood transfusion.

I was always aware that i was different.

Lari

I think it was during my first year of school - While chanting in a dull monotone "It's against my religion".

My parents were not as bad as some - If someone gave me a Bday gift they didn't make me give it back. All I had to do is say. "You know I dont celebrate birthdays BUT if this is just a friendship gift..." Then snatch it out of their hands and run.

Ahh, those warm childhood memories. Where's the vodka.

A question to people born in the Borg*

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