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NOTE: The Society frequently publishes information about new health practices, but always with the caveat: ``It is not the policy of Awake! to underwrite any treatment. We encourage all to look circumspectly at ... different avenues in the treatment of [any] disease.'' [g94 4/89 10]
NOTE: Many worldly organizations rank and rate their members, e.g., police, clubs, scouting, and like paramilitary groups. It is common English slang to speak of achieving a particular level as `making' it, e.g., a Boy Scout might say ``I'm hoping to make eagle by the end of the year'', or a recently promoted policeman might say ``I made lieutenant last month''. On rare occasions brothers have been heard to say something like this: ``I've been working on my teaching skills in hopes that I will make elder the next CO visit.'' Yikes! Such a statement betrays a wrong point of view toward {privileges} of service.
Holidays vary in different parts of the world. In the USA the six standard national holidays, on which most businesses are closed and people are off work, are: New Year's Day (January 1st); Memorial Day (last Monday in May); Independence Day (July 4th); Labor Day (first Monday in September); Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November); Christmas (December 25th). Some places grant Good Friday (the Friday before Easter Sunday), and others substitute a personal holiday, to be taken anytime during the year. Because such days, whether religious or secular, are not of divine origin, and so not obligatory upon Christians, we rightly regarded them as worldly.[101] The qualifier says in one word: ``Although the day is nationally observed, *we* don't believe there is anything holy or special about it.'' <<Since December 25th is a worldly holiday and many people are likely to be home, there will be a meeting for field service that morning.>>
NOTE: Avoiding holiday entanglements is no longer a matter of merely making discreet plans on a few days a year. In the USA there is a year-end ``holiday season'' that gets longer each year. It used to begin a couple of days before Thanksgiving, taper off until mid-December, and then end on New Year's Day. Now it begins in mid-October with the appearance of the first Halloween pumpkins and decorations, and continues until Superbowl, the last Sunday in January.
NOTE: Merely referring to a holiday by name does not mean that one observes it. <<We couldn't get away this month, but maybe we will be able to come and visit you next Christmas.>> The speaker is not planning to come and celebrate the festival, but is merely using the holiday name as a convenient label, in the knowledge that many people have time off of work at the end of each year. (Compare {birthday}.)
NOTE: Most persons recognize that the coverage technique of starting at opposite ends of a stretch of {territory} and converging is usually preferable to working house-over-house. There are occasions where house-over-house is useful, such as when the territory's layout is complicated or homes are widespread, or when there is a need to stick close together, as in working with children or in dangerous territory.
NOTE: On occasion, humorists, especially professional comedians, push the limits of propriety, and often overstep the bounds. There are appropriate and inappropriate occasions for laughter. (Ecc 3:4) Jesus did not tell funny stories when he taught, but some Christian elders today do so with good effect, and without polluting the seriousness of the Bible subject matter. The best humor seems to be that which arises spontaneously, like a cool breeze on a hot day, and then fades away and is quickly forgotten.
The Glossary of American English Hacker
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Last modified: Wed May 6 12:50:08 MST 1998
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