I had my Corps nametags in my console of my car. I remember asking my grandfather. who gave me about one quarter of my Corps sponsorship, why he was no longer so involved in the church as he was in his 30s and 40s. He only replied, "One day, you too will understand why."
Upon his passing in April 1987, I buried my nametags at his grave.
I was but a young Wayfer, in fact I think just before I went to FWTX and met Mr. Strange, there was a discussion amongst some returning WOW's, Advanced Class grads, WC, and some who were one or more of the aforementioned categories, which name tag to wear, and which one went above the other, i.e., took precedence. Is it more significant that I am WC, WOW, AdvClass or what? People at that ROA ended up wearing all their name tags at one time!
It finally came to a halt when the ever-savvy Dorothy Owens got up to direct a rehearsal of the Way Chorale Internationale (remember that?) with about 10 name tags pinned to the front of her dress. She turned in a circle with that "teacher" look on her face and did not say one word.
Hopefully, the message was gotten by those to needed it the most.
I had PFAL, WOW, ADVCLASS and one from when we got to fly on Ambassador One from Georgia to Rome Cit y for a weekend with the Family WC, which unfortunately did not forewarn us to stay awaaaayyyy!
They symbolized the superficial ego trips that abounded. A little piece of plastic on your shirt for all to see...I'm a WOW...I'm an advanced class grad...I'm corps!
I threw all mine away....don't need no stinkin' nametag.
They symbolized the superficial ego trips that abounded. A little piece of plastic on your shirt for all to see...I'm a WOW...I'm an advanced class grad...I'm corps!
Uh-huh -- I hear you. :(
God may not be a respecter of persons -- but twi certainly taught the opposite.
The funny thing about this whole nametag discussion to me is, that all in all, nametags are really not an evil idea.
Was it the leadership of TWI who made the nametags indicators of one's status in TWI? I don't think so, at least not at first. Maybe it did morph into that.
But my experience was that it was the followers who got into acquiring the nametags for status. That means us.
Everybody wants to blame "TWI" for whatever was wrong or evil, or whatever, but come on. We were "TWI" to some degree.
I'm not trying to defend the evil cult, either. Just want to go a little deeper. Why would it be so important for people involved to find their identity in a nametag? OK, I'm sure none of us here did that, oh no not moi, but somebody did because of the question asked in the title of this thread.
It just occurred to me that nametags were just about the only concrete evidence of 'achievement', that many in the way were apt to obtain.
In my experience, very few were actively following career, or educational paths. I knew people who got in the way during college, but really didn't have a plan after that. Of course they were always encouraged to 'give a year to God' and go wow, which then often led to corps, or simply trying to figure out what to do with your life, and how to fit that in while being involved with every way function available (like about every day). More often than not, people who were at the stage of life where they should be building a career and a life , were washing windows or working fast food joints, and wondering what to do about it.
Add to that the feelings of unworthiness and condemnation that was common the deeper you got involved. No matter how much you were told you were 'more than a conqueror' in twig, the reality was intense judgement and pressure to do more for God, and to have every imperfection pointed out as if you were an affront to God and the Ministry.
A nice nametag with your name engraved on it, proclaiming that you were succesful as a WOW , or took the Advanced Class, or looming over all, Way Corps, probably took on greater importance psychologically, (not that I know anything about psychology).
I lost most of my nametags as soon as I got them. I only held on to the Way Corps nametag because of necessity - that - and I didn't want to have to keep buying them!
WE were the ministry to a certain extent. There were a lot of attitudes that many of us adopted "just 'cuz." Call it the popular group mentality - it got a life of its own.
I guess the main point is and was that we were using the tags as a gauge of spirituality - because there is no way to measure spiritual matters. Maybe we substituted the tags, classes, programs, etc. for what really mattered - a realtionship with God and His Son. I say, "Maybe' because I can not speak for anyone else here.
Was it the leadership of TWI who made the nametags indicators of one's status in TWI? I don't think so, at least not at first. Maybe it did morph into that.
But my experience was that it was the followers who got into acquiring the nametags for status. That means us.
I agree with you to an extent, TWI leadership didn't tout nametags as an indicator of one's spirituality, but they did view graduation from certain classes and programs as proof that you had "arrived" at different spiritual levels. The nametag was the evidence of that. Many of us "on the field" got awfully obsessed with the nametag itself.
However, during the last 1/2 decade of the Martindale years, the Big Forehead made several nametag changes to highlight some of his big organizational changes.
Corps nametags no longer were white on green or green on white with the Corps number on it, they were a new color (kind of a bluish-grteen maybe?) with Way Corps II on each one. This coincided with Corps no longer being identified by Corps number in the Way rag, but by their year of graduation.
New white on blue Advanced Class nametags were issued for grads of the WayAP advanced class. We were supposed to get rid of the old white on green advanced class nametags. I was reproved once for wearing my green one.
"No matter how much you were told you were 'more than a conqueror' in twig, the reality was intense judgement and pressure to do more for God, and to have every imperfection pointed out as if you were an affront to God and the Ministry."
Very well said, Hiway29. This pretty much sums up my twi experience.
I was a kid when my parents were in the way in the early 80s, and therefore have few memories of it. However, the name tags are the one thing that sticks out in my mind more than anything and I remember being so proud of them! What was I thinking?! Maybe that's why I need tangible things now to feel like I've accomplished something?
I was a kid when my parents were in the way in the early 80s, and therefore have few memories of it. However, the name tags are the one thing that sticks out in my mind more than anything and I remember being so proud of them! What was I thinking?! Maybe that's why I need tangible things now to feel like I've accomplished something?
Welcome, qtana.
I think (this is just my opinion) that some people more than others-
and more my generation and perhaps yours-
feel better when they have some external benchmark on which to measure their performance.
Something like knowing their skill-ranks and aptitude levels at different things.
It makes it easier to define oneself with objective-or at least external- standards.
I don't think that using an outside measure is necessarily bad.
However, using ONLY outside measures means that someone can manipulate
you by manipulating the measures. That's one reason why lcm threatened the way corps
with removal of their corps status if they didn't swear an oath of loyalty to him.
========
In other news, hello.
We have many things you may want to look at, especially if you're new here.
I remember when I was a WOW (85-86), we were going to a meeting, I forget what it was, and we all were getting our name tags (we kept them on some fabric in the dining room wall), and my WOW sister Renee grabs her Corps tag.
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Oakspear
The nametag in and of itself? No.
The nametag as a symbol of what classes you took or what program you were in? You betcha.
Why have different nametags for Corps, WOWs, Advanced Class, etc if it didn't matter?
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Sweetpea
I had my Corps nametags in my console of my car. I remember asking my grandfather. who gave me about one quarter of my Corps sponsorship, why he was no longer so involved in the church as he was in his 30s and 40s. He only replied, "One day, you too will understand why."
Upon his passing in April 1987, I buried my nametags at his grave.
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Watered Garden
I was but a young Wayfer, in fact I think just before I went to FWTX and met Mr. Strange, there was a discussion amongst some returning WOW's, Advanced Class grads, WC, and some who were one or more of the aforementioned categories, which name tag to wear, and which one went above the other, i.e., took precedence. Is it more significant that I am WC, WOW, AdvClass or what? People at that ROA ended up wearing all their name tags at one time!
It finally came to a halt when the ever-savvy Dorothy Owens got up to direct a rehearsal of the Way Chorale Internationale (remember that?) with about 10 name tags pinned to the front of her dress. She turned in a circle with that "teacher" look on her face and did not say one word.
Hopefully, the message was gotten by those to needed it the most.
I had PFAL, WOW, ADVCLASS and one from when we got to fly on Ambassador One from Georgia to Rome Cit y for a weekend with the Family WC, which unfortunately did not forewarn us to stay awaaaayyyy!
WG
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Dot Matrix
Sweetpea
WOW
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GrouchoMarxJr
Sure...the name tags were what twi was all about.
They symbolized the superficial ego trips that abounded. A little piece of plastic on your shirt for all to see...I'm a WOW...I'm an advanced class grad...I'm corps!
I threw all mine away....don't need no stinkin' nametag.
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dmiller
Uh-huh -- I hear you. :(
God may not be a respecter of persons -- but twi certainly taught the opposite.
SweetPea -- Kudos!!!
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ex10
The funny thing about this whole nametag discussion to me is, that all in all, nametags are really not an evil idea.
Was it the leadership of TWI who made the nametags indicators of one's status in TWI? I don't think so, at least not at first. Maybe it did morph into that.
But my experience was that it was the followers who got into acquiring the nametags for status. That means us.
Everybody wants to blame "TWI" for whatever was wrong or evil, or whatever, but come on. We were "TWI" to some degree.
I'm not trying to defend the evil cult, either. Just want to go a little deeper. Why would it be so important for people involved to find their identity in a nametag? OK, I'm sure none of us here did that, oh no not moi, but somebody did because of the question asked in the title of this thread.
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hiway29
It just occurred to me that nametags were just about the only concrete evidence of 'achievement', that many in the way were apt to obtain.
In my experience, very few were actively following career, or educational paths. I knew people who got in the way during college, but really didn't have a plan after that. Of course they were always encouraged to 'give a year to God' and go wow, which then often led to corps, or simply trying to figure out what to do with your life, and how to fit that in while being involved with every way function available (like about every day). More often than not, people who were at the stage of life where they should be building a career and a life , were washing windows or working fast food joints, and wondering what to do about it.
Add to that the feelings of unworthiness and condemnation that was common the deeper you got involved. No matter how much you were told you were 'more than a conqueror' in twig, the reality was intense judgement and pressure to do more for God, and to have every imperfection pointed out as if you were an affront to God and the Ministry.
A nice nametag with your name engraved on it, proclaiming that you were succesful as a WOW , or took the Advanced Class, or looming over all, Way Corps, probably took on greater importance psychologically, (not that I know anything about psychology).
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ex10
Hiway,
You make some excellent points!
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2life
dang............
plastic name tags ... T Shirts (the ones that said WC on them!) and sweat pants.............. yep.... those were some sort of status symbols!!
too funny!
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GrouchoMarxJr
Sure it's funny...in hindsight.
The bible says "you shall know them by their fruit"...in twi it was "you shall know them by their nametag"
...Perhaps the reason twi pushed the nametag thing was because there was so little fruit to know them by otherwise?
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doojable
I lost most of my nametags as soon as I got them. I only held on to the Way Corps nametag because of necessity - that - and I didn't want to have to keep buying them!
WE were the ministry to a certain extent. There were a lot of attitudes that many of us adopted "just 'cuz." Call it the popular group mentality - it got a life of its own.
I guess the main point is and was that we were using the tags as a gauge of spirituality - because there is no way to measure spiritual matters. Maybe we substituted the tags, classes, programs, etc. for what really mattered - a realtionship with God and His Son. I say, "Maybe' because I can not speak for anyone else here.
What say ye?
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Oakspear
However, during the last 1/2 decade of the Martindale years, the Big Forehead made several nametag changes to highlight some of his big organizational changes.
- Corps nametags no longer were white on green or green on white with the Corps number on it, they were a new color (kind of a bluish-grteen maybe?) with Way Corps II on each one. This coincided with Corps no longer being identified by Corps number in the Way rag, but by their year of graduation.
- New white on blue Advanced Class nametags were issued for grads of the WayAP advanced class. We were supposed to get rid of the old white on green advanced class nametags. I was reproved once for wearing my green one.
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outintexas
"No matter how much you were told you were 'more than a conqueror' in twig, the reality was intense judgement and pressure to do more for God, and to have every imperfection pointed out as if you were an affront to God and the Ministry."
Very well said, Hiway29. This pretty much sums up my twi experience.
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qtana
I was a kid when my parents were in the way in the early 80s, and therefore have few memories of it. However, the name tags are the one thing that sticks out in my mind more than anything and I remember being so proud of them! What was I thinking?! Maybe that's why I need tangible things now to feel like I've accomplished something?
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WordWolf
Welcome, qtana.
I think (this is just my opinion) that some people more than others-
and more my generation and perhaps yours-
feel better when they have some external benchmark on which to measure their performance.
Something like knowing their skill-ranks and aptitude levels at different things.
It makes it easier to define oneself with objective-or at least external- standards.
I don't think that using an outside measure is necessarily bad.
However, using ONLY outside measures means that someone can manipulate
you by manipulating the measures. That's one reason why lcm threatened the way corps
with removal of their corps status if they didn't swear an oath of loyalty to him.
========
In other news, hello.
We have many things you may want to look at, especially if you're new here.
My general advice for new arrivals is here...
http://www.greasespotcafe.com/ipb/index.php?showtopic=7913
I hope you enjoy your stay, no matter what your individual beliefs are at the moment.
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Attack Gypsy
I remember when I was a WOW (85-86), we were going to a meeting, I forget what it was, and we all were getting our name tags (we kept them on some fabric in the dining room wall), and my WOW sister Renee grabs her Corps tag.
Me: "You're not going to wear your WOW tag?"
Rene: "No, the Corps one is higher".
The caste system kinda makes sense now.
The Attack Gypsy
Thankfully out for 16 years.
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dmiller
Attack Gypsy -- welcome to GreaseSpot.
Pull up a chair, and have some coffee. :)
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