Tag: Cult

I was a single struggling mom once upon a time, there were situations where making a decision between paying the electric bill or buying food to feed my children were realities.
I am saying this as a preface to what I am about to vent, yes vent, rant, an old fashioned Angie Rant is in the works.
As I have written about before, I was introduced to the world of Rustic Cuff, it is a store in Tulsa that has become a phenomenon. The owner gives away a lot of bracelets and does great things in the community, the following is nothing on her.
I was introduced to a group on Facebook (of course) called Addicted 2 Cuffs, Jill Donovan Fan Club, kid you not, that is the name.
In this club I have seen some really good things, but the majority of things I have seen border on narcissistic, selfish, unkind and unfeeling behavior. They worship Jill like she is Jesus come to earth again. They say things like, in the spirit of Jill and what Jill would want and things of that nature. I am not going to lie; I have been truly bothered by some of the things I have seen.
First I am going to touch on the things I have seen that have inspired me, the woman who took her mother out this Christmas and they bought lunch for strangers. Took money and went to fast food places and paid for people’s meals that were in line at the drive-thru. That was inspiring, the woman who spoke of her friend whose husband lost his job, people donated gift cards so she could buy groceries and gas. Inspiring. Jill taking toy donations for the children’s ward at the local hospitals. Inspiring.
Then we see the ugly side of things, the woman whose 5-year-old son told her he needed money for the Santa shop at school, she asked what he was going to buy. He said he wanted to buy her a bracelet, because she wears them and he wanted to get her one because they make her happy. She told her son not to buy her any bracelet but Rustic Cuff. He said I guess I’ll buy you a necklace, because even a 5-year-old knows he can’t afford one of those bracelets. One could almost feel his defeat, as his mother cackled about this and women clicked like and made comments like, oh I don’t own anything but Rustic Cuff. This mother should be ashamed of herself, all her son knew was mommy wears pretty bracelets and loves them and he wanted to be included on her arm.
God help the person who sells one of these things they have bought with their own money, these women become vicious. Here’s the thing, once one buys something, it becomes theirs to do with what they want. If someone on eBay is willing to pay 4 times the original price, well good for that seller. They are living the American Dream, it is called supply and demand, it is called feeding your family.
To the woman who said her goal this year was to give away 52 of these things, I am truly flabbergasted. I did the math, even on the low-end, that is $1,200.00 to $1,500.00 in costume jewelry. I’m sorry, but if you saved that money all year and at the end of the year used that lump sum to truly help someone in need, that is in the spirit of Christ.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Jill is making money hand over fist, that is why she can give away trips to Disneyland and Iwatches and IPad and free bracelets. She is incredibly altruistic, but she is not Jesus! Women are forgetting that, once again, when I see in the spirit of Jill or let’s do what Jill would want I am a little horrified.
I wonder if this woman who started all of this reads some of these things and is just as horrified as I am, I wonder if she thinks how can I rein it in. I don’t know, I don’t know her, at all.
I do know she did a wonderfully nice thing for someone very close to me and I really appreciate it. But Jill is not Jesus. I did not praise her, I thanked God for His work in this woman’s life.
I am done buying bracelets, I have enough, after all, I only have two arms, I have the ones I want, ones that represent people and things very near and dear to me. My children, my home state and my Sooners, that is enough.
Oh, I also wear bracelets other than Rustic Cuff, gasp, I know, right! Imagine the horror!
I have seen pictures of some of the collections of these women and I have done the math, no one needs over $3,000.00 worth of costume jewelry, no matter the message of the owner of the company. You could have a really good piece of jewelry that you could hand down to your children for that amount of money.
I know I will take a lot of bashing for this, as those women are vicious when they feel that their cult has been belittled. However, living in Texas, I feel relatively safe.