Does this sound familiar? Well, I can remember the service year 1992-93 and 1993-94. Those two years were absolutely stagnant and blah.
It started mid 1992, when there was rather anemic field circus (vacations were still actually allowed). It was basically nothing going on. You had the regular boasting sessions going on, and there was the Grand Boasting Sessions. Of course, the hounders were in the process of tailor-making rules to keep me from entertaining the children (G-rated entertainment--and the parents were both grateful). That got ridiculous.
In the fall of 1992, it started in earnest. We got a new regular pioneer, and he was a real jerk. He was the type that had to know what everyone was doing at all times, and would need to give permission for anyone to leave the group for any reason (he would usually grant it--remember, it is still the early/mid 1990s--but he would get pxxxed if anyone left the group without letting him know). I always got stuck working with this guy, and he would not tolerate anything that resembles fun. Walking a bit too fast was a sin, as was slipping and playing on the ice. Everything on my suit had to be just so (at least it was starting to cool down a bit).
This arrangement carried right through until the 1995 service year. During those two years, life consisted of meetings, field circus, and work. I usually had Tuesday and Thursday evenings off for the boasting sessions, and I was expected to be out in field circus the next morning. And this bossy leader was always there, usually 15 minutes late and with a cup of coffee (at least he wasn't also the type that would make us go 6 or 8 hours nonstop). I always got paired with him, save for the one time he called in with a flat tire and called back with a flat spare tire and busted air pump.
The effect of this was trouble. Even now, I have a hard time placing music from mid 1992 through mid 1994 to its correct date (I had no such trouble doing so with songs in 1975-77, when I didn't even have regular access to music). Which means that the time seems to have blurred. Aside from random events at work and the Blizzard of 1993 (which did cancel our boasting session and lead to no-shows for field circus), everything all blurred into each other. Stagnation is the cause of this.
With things getting tighter lately, this is likely to be an even bigger problem. People are urged to spend so much time out in field circus that they can forget what year it is, and not be able to place a major event in its correct year. All they need track is the day of the week, the first of the month (for the reports), their current month's activity, and the territory they are assigned to work. There will be nothing to differentiate 2009 from 2010 or 2011. Nothing will differentiate December 25 from any other day--I wonder how many people are going to get through December 25, without any cognitive disorder, and not even realize that it is Christmas Day!
This is bad enough for adults. But, it is an even bigger problem for those born in. Their formative years all blur into each other. There are never big play events, parties, or field trips outside field circus. The only days that they are supposed to remember are the Crapmorial, when they need to return on people, the day they are baptized (hopefully around their 6th birthday), and when any studies get baptized (about 6 months after starting or around their 6th birthdays). This is going to stunt their growth--since not being able to place major hit songs or major events to the correct year is a symptom of stagnation.
No wonder children grow up in that organization unable to leave. Stagnation is all they know, and they cannot think on their own. This is perhaps the biggest damage that being a witless causes--even worse than sexual abuse--since every single person growing up in it experiences this stagnation. Physical and sexual abuse and outside persecution all play a role in stunting children, as does the rules and not being allowed to play. But, the stagnation is the worst--that is when people begin to die spiritually (I sure felt spiritually dead during the period of 1992-95).