Anxiety Dreams

Ahead of my part in the School last night, I had an anxiety dream, one in which I was at the Hall and realised, 5 minutes before I was due on the stage, that I had forgotten my script. In my travelling years, I used to have a regular dream about getting to the airport only to find I had forgotten to bring my passport.

Why? Why do this to myself? 

Anyway, here is my script. It was for the Informal Witnessing part. And I found it quite difficult to do. For one thing, the partner I was allocated was my age (i.e. like me she is Youthily-challenged, or, in OldSpeak, she is old.) And the remit was:
Show a person who has young children how to find information helpful to parents on jw.org. 

I guess I could have begun my talk with: "Aren't you the lady I read about in the tabloids who gave birth in her late sixties?"  

But as you see from the script below, I didn't. Wisely I suspect.  The photo that heads the blog is from my faraway travelling years. It is of me (I guess) in a swimming pool, with an amazing view out over North Island NZ, on what I think was our last trip there. We had the pool to ourselves. We were the only guests and the owners had gone out for the evening. We had the run of their house. There was a level of trust there then that I remember from the England of the 1950s, when you could still leave the milk money out on the front step.

Anyway, as we are trying and trying to tell people, paradise, the paradise earth, lies ahead of us - so we need to look forward not back.   And here is the script I prepared for last night. My partner and I practised and practised.

Sue: Are those lovely little girls on the swings your grandchildren?  

Partner: No they are my great nieces actually. Twins. Cute, but quite a handful.  We are just down here for the holidays and I thought I would give my nephew and his wife a day off to do their own thing while I entertained the girls.  

Sue: That was thoughtful of you.

P: But I am feeling a bit anxious about it now, as clearly there is another storm brewing. I was relying on the beach to entertain them this afternoon. We were going to look for shells and look in the rockpools.

Sue, Yes, children love the beach at any time of year don’t they. It is the best playground there is. But I see what you mean. We are in for yet another storm.  It’s  going to rain non-stop apparently, starting any minute now, looking at those clouds.

P  It’s difficult to keep them entertained indoors, especially in a holiday let. 

Sue. I don’t know if you have ever played Consequences?  It’s a paper and pencil game and needs no space at all. My nephews and nieces used to love it.

P.  Yes, We used to play that when i was a child. I had forgotten all about it!  Thanks. I think I will give it a go.

Sue, I hope they will like it.  The only problem is that if they do, when you have done it ten times and they want to keep going, the novelty does wear off.

P:  Well, I can sit them down with their computer games, or in front of the telly at some stage of course.  If I can find anything suitable. It all seems so violent, or really just so awful these days, not what you want for children at all.

Sue: I know what you mean. It’s as if a bit of poison has been added to everything.

P  Do you know, that is right!  But I wonder why so many people don’t seem to notice.

Sue:  Looking back, I think because it was done gradually, bit by bit.  You and I can remember the earliest childrens’ TV programmes for example. Think Muffin the Mule.

P: Yes, I do (laughs)

Sue  The contrast between now and then is shocking. But the main reason I notice it is that I am a Jehovah’s Witness and we are taught from God’s word all the time, and it is so loving and so perfect, and as the Bible tells us, it always benefits us. So I notice how the world and its media seem to be constantly trying to lower our standards and pull us away from our Creator.  And listen, if you are looking for something for the children to watch this afternoon, we have an excellent website JW.org - and we have a lovely series of short videos for children.  Can I give you the link?

P.  Thanks, but I don’t know if they would be interested in anything religious.

Sue:  May I just show you one. See here.  It’s very short, from a series called Caleb and Sophia. it’s called Love Your Neighbour.

They watch it

P:  Oh. That’s very good actually, very well done. I think they might like it. And they will learn something good too!

Sue:  There are so many lovely videos for children on here. They might like the one about Noah’s Ark for example. I love that one.   May I give you this card with the link on it. I will just write down that you go to JW;org. Then to Library, then to video, then to the children’s sections.  And I have put my email address on the back and I will add my phone number in case you have any questions about accessing the site. In fact, if you have a moment, I would love to know if they enjoy Caleb and Sophia.

P: Thanks.  I will. Oh - is that the rain starting. Come on girls, we will have to go. And thanks again. You might have saved my afternoon.