As a child, at the tender age of four yes four, I was made a publisher. I remember Robert Mills, the Congregation Servant as POs were titled in those days coming over, stooping down to my level, shaking my hand and congratulating me. I was now a publisher.
At the tender age of six I was taught by Mom that as a future brother I would need to handle responsibilities in the congregation. So it was imperative that I start then. My Mom approached somebody and found jobs for me. Every book study I was to take attendance. And every Wednesday night before the TMS (Theocratic Ministry School) I was to come early with my Mom and straighten out the chairs in the side schools in preparation for the Ministry School . Thus began a continuous term of congregation service that would run for 34 years.
Preparing for meetings was essential. And we did it better than anyone I knew . At the tender age of four I was taken to the hospital for stitches on my forehead. Why? Well let me backtrack. Every week my mom would prepare every meeting with me. This meant that we read every bit of material including cited Scriptures. As we did this she was recording it on one of those large open reel decks. Then every day I was to spend two to three hours listening to the recordings. One day something needed to be done to the recorder. I couldn't get my Mom's attention and so I tried to climb up to the machine which was about six feet up on a shelf and do it myself. I ended up pulling it down on myself and needing stitches.
When I wasn't listening to recordings of my Mom and I preparing meetings, I was listening to all of the WT greats: Knorr, Franz, Dunlap, Henschel, Greenlees, Chitty and assorted COs and DOs at Gilead graduations and assemblies. My Mom would get these bootlegged recordings from Bethelites as rewards for her "faithful" service. I heard these recordings over and over till I knew them by heart. There was NO radio, no "worldly" music. At that time we didn't have Kingdom melodies. All that we had were vinyl recordings (there were ten or twelve) of a small orchestra at Bethel playing the songs from the old "Singing and Accompanying Yourselves With Music in Your Hearts to Jehovah" songbook. That was the only music I heard until the age of I would say thirteen. So you see while I am forty, in many ways I am still sixteen, just discovering things that people take for granted. Why that is still the case I will go into later.
A caveat is in order here: While many of the aforsaid things can easily leave one with the sense that my life as a child was just one bad event after another, this was definitely not the case. And some good did come of it all. For example, when I began first grade, my teachers were astonished at my abilities. I had not gone to kindergarten, too "worldly." Yet I was exceling. So they tested me and found a kid in the first grade reading sixth grade level. (Of course, being that WT material is written at a six to seventh grade level, I was not bound to go higher through "personal study." And critical thinking, well let's just say it wasn't until college that I was even exposed to that.) But school was a breeze, in fact at times boring because I could assimilate information so well. The same can be said regarding the lack of television. I had time to explore science, and many other things within the restrictions my parents had placed around me. I believe that with most things in life there are good and bad things that come together. It is for us to make the most out of it.
Next: A "Theocratic Career" Begins
For those interested, here are the preceding portions of My Journey:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/129473/1.ashx
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/129553/1.ashx
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