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Why is it so many people can't see the beauty of their own potential? Why are so many people caught up in the cult of celebrity? Don't they know that they have it within themselves to shine, too?
I can't remember if I've written about this before, but I'm going to write about it now.
When I was a kid, I'd watch tv and movies, or read articles in magazines, and I'd see and learn about people with a vast array of skills, talents, and experiences. There were cowboys, acrobats, fashion models, chefs, businessmen, actors, body builders, authors, airline hostesses, scientists, hunters with spears, etc. I would always be amazed by these people. But I always considered them as something alien. Foreign. Other.
That's what other people did. It's not what people like me did.
I'd see someone with a big plate in their bottom lip, or someone walking tightrope, and I'd think how exotic that was. I'd see dancers with a pot of water balanced on their heads, dancing without spilling a single drop. And I'd think they had such a strange and different life, unlike normal people like me.
I was a normal kid. I went to school, and I went to the Kingdom Hall. The best I could hope for would be to marry a Jehovah's Witness elder and maybe be a missionary in one of those exotic foreign countries, and spread the word of God to the people who weren't like me. Heck, even the boys in the Kingdom Hall were more exotic than I was. They could at least carry the microphones around the Kingdom Hall or operate the sound equipment, because boys were important.
It never even occurred to me that I could go to university. I mean, it was strongly discouraged for Jehovah's Witness kids to seek higher education, except for maybe a trade. Higher education was a waste of time since Armageddon was surely just around the corner. And so I had resigned myself to the fate of waiting for Armageddon, and then for the resulting Paradise on Earth. That's when I might finally be accorded my chance to shine.
And so I was finishing up grade twelve, and my Dad unexpectedly mentioned to me that I might want to consider applying to university. I was pretty surprised, but sure, why not? If Dad suggested it, it must be a good idea. I applied to just one school. My grades were good, and I was accepted easily.
One day at the Kingdom Hall, one of the sisters (female JW) asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I thought about it for a minute, and then I said I thought I'd like to be a biologist.
Her mouth went from being shaped like a smile to being shaped like a cat's arsehole. "Biologists believe in evolution."
"Oh," I said, and then said nothing more. I'd been put back into my place.
Flash ahead to the next year. I was in university, now. I'd been taking a variety of courses, and meeting a lot of people far more cosmopolitan than I was. I met a few people who were radio DJs, another one of those things I considered glamourous and exotic. One day, I was having a conversation with an older woman in my introductory English class. I'm sure she doesn't remember the conversation. It was one of those casual, rather throwaway discussions. Just filling time, really. But it was pivotal for me.
I mentioned to her that a couple of my friends were DJs.
"You could be a DJ," she said.
I looked at her, startled. "Really?" I said.
"Yeah. I think you'd make a pretty good DJ."
I don't remember anything else in that conversation. All I remember is that was the precise moment when I realized, in more than just an abstract way, that I had the potential to do anything. And from that day onwards, if I decided I wanted to do or try something, unless there was a damned good reason not to, I went for it. Within the next week or two, I was getting training for operating sound equipment.
Screw living vicariously. I wanna live for myself.
I can't remember if I've written about this before, but I'm going to write about it now.
When I was a kid, I'd watch tv and movies, or read articles in magazines, and I'd see and learn about people with a vast array of skills, talents, and experiences. There were cowboys, acrobats, fashion models, chefs, businessmen, actors, body builders, authors, airline hostesses, scientists, hunters with spears, etc. I would always be amazed by these people. But I always considered them as something alien. Foreign. Other.
That's what other people did. It's not what people like me did.
I'd see someone with a big plate in their bottom lip, or someone walking tightrope, and I'd think how exotic that was. I'd see dancers with a pot of water balanced on their heads, dancing without spilling a single drop. And I'd think they had such a strange and different life, unlike normal people like me.
I was a normal kid. I went to school, and I went to the Kingdom Hall. The best I could hope for would be to marry a Jehovah's Witness elder and maybe be a missionary in one of those exotic foreign countries, and spread the word of God to the people who weren't like me. Heck, even the boys in the Kingdom Hall were more exotic than I was. They could at least carry the microphones around the Kingdom Hall or operate the sound equipment, because boys were important.
It never even occurred to me that I could go to university. I mean, it was strongly discouraged for Jehovah's Witness kids to seek higher education, except for maybe a trade. Higher education was a waste of time since Armageddon was surely just around the corner. And so I had resigned myself to the fate of waiting for Armageddon, and then for the resulting Paradise on Earth. That's when I might finally be accorded my chance to shine.
And so I was finishing up grade twelve, and my Dad unexpectedly mentioned to me that I might want to consider applying to university. I was pretty surprised, but sure, why not? If Dad suggested it, it must be a good idea. I applied to just one school. My grades were good, and I was accepted easily.
One day at the Kingdom Hall, one of the sisters (female JW) asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I thought about it for a minute, and then I said I thought I'd like to be a biologist.
Her mouth went from being shaped like a smile to being shaped like a cat's arsehole. "Biologists believe in evolution."
"Oh," I said, and then said nothing more. I'd been put back into my place.
Flash ahead to the next year. I was in university, now. I'd been taking a variety of courses, and meeting a lot of people far more cosmopolitan than I was. I met a few people who were radio DJs, another one of those things I considered glamourous and exotic. One day, I was having a conversation with an older woman in my introductory English class. I'm sure she doesn't remember the conversation. It was one of those casual, rather throwaway discussions. Just filling time, really. But it was pivotal for me.
I mentioned to her that a couple of my friends were DJs.
"You could be a DJ," she said.
I looked at her, startled. "Really?" I said.
"Yeah. I think you'd make a pretty good DJ."
I don't remember anything else in that conversation. All I remember is that was the precise moment when I realized, in more than just an abstract way, that I had the potential to do anything. And from that day onwards, if I decided I wanted to do or try something, unless there was a damned good reason not to, I went for it. Within the next week or two, I was getting training for operating sound equipment.
Screw living vicariously. I wanna live for myself.
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-24 07:44 pm (UTC)From: (Anonymous)no subject
Date: 2012-02-24 09:31 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-02-25 02:10 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-02-26 12:40 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-03-09 03:35 am (UTC)From:thank you for sharing a bit about growing up as a jw.