But his cold outer persona is probably what will form his biggest legacy - a lot like that of N.H.Knorr, as a matter of fact. Maybe they both thought they had to act like that to keep their illusion of power.
When Knorr was alive, a lot of us at Bethel trembled in his presence. His often austere manner gave us the impression that he could read our minds. Being of the "anointed" and being the top guy in "God's organization" made us think we probably offended Jehovah himself if Knorr looked at us like we were dirt. One of our greatest dreads was to be in a line-up against the dining room wall while Knorr chewed us out in front of the entire "Bethel family." One day Knorr sat in his chair at the head of the dining room, and there was a bit of gravy on the seat. After the meal, Knorr took the head waiter aside and laced into him up-and-down. Apparently the waiter didn't apologize enough for the fact that one of the waiters under him missed the gravy spot when cleaning the chairs. Well, in no time the whole "family" heard that the head waiter got dismissed.
After Knorr died, I went on a tour of WT Farms. At the small cemetery, the tour guide pointed to the plaque covering the ground where Knorr is buried. As soon as I saw it my heart began to beat like a machine gun blasting away. No thoughts came to my mind, but I experienced the habit that had been engrained in me to think of the man as some sort of demi-god, even though he was dead. Of course, JWs think guys like that are up in heaven still running the show at Bethel.
Such is the mood that mind-controllers like to instill in their victims. After Knorr died, a similar fear and trembling started to arise in me toward Jaracz.
Two things, however, began to soothe the pain in my case. First, Jaracz became one of my bosses at Bethel. I saw firsthand what a jerk he is and the favoritism he showed to guys who had special assets like a college background or well-to-do parents.
Second, I became friends with someone who knew him well when he entered Gilead many years ago. He told me that at that time Knorr thought Jaracz was pretty much stuck on himself. I got the impression that Knorr never changed his mind about that.
Frank