Okay, so many of you will be like, "how on Earth can you put 'ugh' and 'christmas' in the same phrase?," but I have something to tell you guys; I am a Jehovah's Witness. For those of you who don't know who those are, we are a group of Christians that are known for 1) not participating in ANY holidays, 2) not celebrating birthdays, 3) knocking on doors, preaching; and 4) believing in a paradise Earth after Armageddon. Now, I know that there will be a few responses to this. I know a lot of people that find it cool for me to be of this different religion while others just seem to respond with disgust. For one, we are not pests; I get that a lot in school, where people say that we are annoying and stupid, walking around "handing out bibles," but we aren't. Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion, so while I could be offended by a comment like that, I know that our intentions are not to pester people. In fact, we are usually very respectful in your space and everything (I find), so I don't know. Another thing that I get is that we are probably boring since we don't celebrate everything that the other religions celebrate, but we aren't. I do find that sometimes I'd like to be able to go to a Christmas party that all of my friends are going to, or maybe a huge birthday bash or something, but after a while you get used to it. I wasn't a witness when I was born. In fact, I dressed up for Halloween as a Telly Tubby and everything when I was really small, but as far as I can remember, I've been a JW. It's not even like we can't have parties or anything, so I will go to get-togethers and have some of my own that aren't holiday or birthday related and that are properly supervised (meaning not just a bunch of teens at a house party with alcohol and drugs and all of that sort of stuff that typically makes teen parties so crazy and dangerous). I've found that since I've gotten older, I've had the urge to dress up like how they do during Halloween time, so I will probably have costume parties sometime during the earlier part of the year so that I can dress up without it having to be for the holiday, if that makes sense. Now, another thing that I hear is that we are just altogether crazy people who made up this whole "Paradise Earth" talk and whatever. We are pretty much classified in that group of religions like Latter day saints and the Amish; the ones that people look at as creepy and altogether out of the ordinary, but I feel that that is just another thing about humans. Once you are not doing what most of the population does, you're weird. I don't get it, but if that is what it is, then yes, I am as weird as they come, LOL. But anyhow, that's my little explanation of my religion.
Now, how that (/\) relates to my post is that it is Christmas time and, as I just explained, I don't celebrate it. My basic understanding of why is 1) we don't think that this is the time of Christ's birth. All that I really remember is them saying an example that makes so much sense to me; The Virgin Mary was poor and lived in a place that got very cold during the Winter. Therefore, she could not have possibly been able to provide Jesus enough warmth as a baby and so Jehovah (our name for God) would not have had Mary have Jesus in those winter months. 2) that we don't celebrate birthdays period, so even if we believed that this was a legitimate holiday, we wouldn't celebrate it. This is also another long description that I don't care to get into right now, LOL. So anyhow, imagine that you are in my shoes. Christmas spirit is EVERYWHERE, but you don't participate in it, so you are constantly sitting out of all of the class holiday things and you are constantly reminded of Christmas on the radio, and the smell of pine that makes you sick. In fact, Christmas is my LEAST favorite holiday to have to work through. Why? Because it is just so long and festive. Anyhow, so at my school, Christmas has gone all out, to the constant playing of holiday songs, to the decking the classroom, to the Christmas cards and activities, so on and so forth. I'm finally on break, so I don't have to be as exposed to it, but sometimes it makes you really sad. I feel like, "gosh, they are so happy and excited to be doing this thing, I wish I could join in." I can see that that's the youth in me, wanting to follow pattern like "normal people", but like everything else that you really believe in, you stand strong to them. So I'm going along through December, the Xmas month, with a new appreciation for this blog, actually. Writing in this blog has helped me to think through things better, to analyze every aspect of a situation, to make better decisions and so I have found that it has made it easier for me to say no to things, even the most tempting things. I wanted to write this, not only to explain to you guys my religion and what it's like, especially in the heights of a major holiday, but to remind me of why being a Jehovah's Witness is something that I need to be proud of, something else that makes me special, something that's important to me :) Anyhow, I got to go, but I will be back either later today or tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell
Now, how that (/\) relates to my post is that it is Christmas time and, as I just explained, I don't celebrate it. My basic understanding of why is 1) we don't think that this is the time of Christ's birth. All that I really remember is them saying an example that makes so much sense to me; The Virgin Mary was poor and lived in a place that got very cold during the Winter. Therefore, she could not have possibly been able to provide Jesus enough warmth as a baby and so Jehovah (our name for God) would not have had Mary have Jesus in those winter months. 2) that we don't celebrate birthdays period, so even if we believed that this was a legitimate holiday, we wouldn't celebrate it. This is also another long description that I don't care to get into right now, LOL. So anyhow, imagine that you are in my shoes. Christmas spirit is EVERYWHERE, but you don't participate in it, so you are constantly sitting out of all of the class holiday things and you are constantly reminded of Christmas on the radio, and the smell of pine that makes you sick. In fact, Christmas is my LEAST favorite holiday to have to work through. Why? Because it is just so long and festive. Anyhow, so at my school, Christmas has gone all out, to the constant playing of holiday songs, to the decking the classroom, to the Christmas cards and activities, so on and so forth. I'm finally on break, so I don't have to be as exposed to it, but sometimes it makes you really sad. I feel like, "gosh, they are so happy and excited to be doing this thing, I wish I could join in." I can see that that's the youth in me, wanting to follow pattern like "normal people", but like everything else that you really believe in, you stand strong to them. So I'm going along through December, the Xmas month, with a new appreciation for this blog, actually. Writing in this blog has helped me to think through things better, to analyze every aspect of a situation, to make better decisions and so I have found that it has made it easier for me to say no to things, even the most tempting things. I wanted to write this, not only to explain to you guys my religion and what it's like, especially in the heights of a major holiday, but to remind me of why being a Jehovah's Witness is something that I need to be proud of, something else that makes me special, something that's important to me :) Anyhow, I got to go, but I will be back either later today or tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell
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