by minimus 19 Replies latest jw friends
I remember standing at the top of the stairs at the DC 1985 in Cicero, IL at lunch break and looking at my mom and saying "what is the use, I am going to die anyway" after some talk. I was 14 going on 15 then!
I never lost that feeling. It is so comforting to know that I wasn't crazy and that others felt the same way. I am 33 years old with children of my own wondering how my mother could continue bringing us some place that made her children feel so hopeless.
Scully It was as though we were running on treadmills
One of my favorite songs that reminds me of being in the organization is Mad World by Gary Jules.
All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world ... world
Enlarging your world
Mad world
One of my favorite songs that reminds me of being in the organization is Mad World by Gary Jules.
Else, this is one of my favorite songs as well. My daughter sent me the MP3 the day Andy and I went to see the Pianist on it's re-release at theaters. I associate the song with that movie rather than the one it was included in. If you have seen the pianist, you can see how the song fits.
I sent the Mad World to my JW sister. We were sharing songs at the time. She told me that she liked the song but she didn't appreciate the Happy Birthday part. I had to laugh and be sad about her comment at the same time.
I think I'll shall listen to it right now.
Flyin'
Well, God's kindness is "undeserved", isn't it? That's what it says in the New World Translation. Elsewhere: Yeah, when I was in the bOrg in the '80s, I made a similar connection to the song, especially the part about "running around in circles" and children waiting for a happy birthday which even we didn't get. That was a great album. There was another song called the "Prisoner" which also perfectly captured my feelings:
The PrisonerHere behind the wall
I feel so small
Breathing but not preceiving
Here anger is me
Love sets me free
Feeling and not believing
Here in my mind
Biding my time
Waiting but not relating
Here anger is me
Love sets me free
The Prisoner is now escaping
So apt!
The Society doesn't know the word "enough" only the words, "do more, more, more and after that even more!"
And if we did do everything they said, well the phrase "what you have done is only what you should have done" is thrown back at us with no "well done good and faithfull slave" from any of the brothers or the Watchtower itself.
Sabrina
One way the Watchtower gets into people's heads is by making them feel that they're unworthy, not good enough, inferior
Isn?t this exactly the technique used by an abusive husband to keep his wife feeling worthless so he can more easily control her? The more downtrodden she is the harder she tries to gain favor. I couldn?t help but notice the similarity.
This just proves that JWs are an abusive religion.
What amazed me was the first time I heard them exhort even the pioneers and elders and high hour publishers and others who struggled to do all they could (the ones they think well of) to find a way to buy out even more time. They said if you're already reading all the literature assigned, and preparing for and participating in all the meetings and having a very full share in the ministry, and reading the Bible daily, and helping others (or trying to help I should say), then you should try to squeak out more time each day from other, "unnecessary" activities. They mentioned if you read the newspaper everyday, couldn't you read it one or two days less per week? And if you watch the evening news every night, couldn't you forgo watching one or two nights a week, and spend more time reading the Bible or preparing even better for service?
They really were/are relentless in hounding even the ones who already give whole-souled; and when I heard this kind of bullying nonsense, I realized that they could never be pleased with whatever anyone did.
I remember one Circuit Overseer commenting that some of the friends "think they deserve a vacation every year." And "some friends feel they are entitled to engage in recreation every week. But that they could actually spend that time better in "theocratic" activities.
He was really judging people for having a life.
These circuit overseers really suck. They just try to guilt people into doing things.
If a JW EVER felt that they were doing "enough", they'd be counseled for a variety of offenses.
