You bet I remember the Hawthorne Race Track....and what I remember ain't pretty.
I think it was my first time I went to Hawthorne, and I was still studying. I didn't know about these coveted seats. I was just walking and looking for a seat with a good view to the stage. As I was about to place my books in the seat and search for others I knew, this "brother" bum rushes the chair and throws his stuff in it. I was stunned and pissed all at the same time. I let him have the chair, and I said to him, "Wow! THAT'S being Christian!" I ended up sitting in a hard plastic chair elsewhere. ASSHOLE!
Our congo was in "charge of" making the sand's for the afternoon session, and once I started to help making them (after I was deemed worthy enough, of course) I never understood why we stayed into the start of the program. I mean, there we'd be, and all of a sudden everything got silent and around me it looked as if Jehovah sprinkled "freeze dust" upon us. We stopped what we were doing and looked like friggin mannequins with sandwhiches in hand, mid air, or on the table, and bowed our heads in prayer. Crazy ass shit, looking back, but it was total loyalty while you were in it.
The final thing I NEVER understood was HOW in the hell can you rent out a facility whose practices you condemn? Of course now I understand it is because of the greedy bastards aka WTBTS wanting $$ (paid parking, donations, etc.) so they didn't care where they held a convention, as long as they were rolling in some mulah.
Some of the "bros & sis's" (even the "bigwigs") tried to explain to me that it didn't matter this was a gaming house, because, you see, when WE were there, it magically turned into a house of worship. Huh! That's some pretty awesome renovation shit right there, I tell ya. And yea, I bought into it for some time, but that nagging feeling inside me (common fucking sense and the HATRED for hypocrisy) got the better of me, and so when I questioned why "we" couldn't find another place within the realm of possibilities, I was looked at like, how dare YOU, little peon sister! Now be gone from our greatness!
When we were admonished to invite worldly people we knew (and that better NOT be people we were choosing to hang with, but more like family or co-workers), I was embarrassed to do so. I felt like a total hypocrite, especially when they reacted the same way I did. "How can you have a religious program at a racetrack?", my Catholic co-worker inquired. Aren't JW's againt gambling. Oh, Charmaine, you silly worldly good-for-nothing Catholic. Don't you see? Yes, "JW's are against gambling, but when WE are there, it is no longer a racetrack, but it is transformed into a spiritual paradise" with Jehovah God as our landlord for three days. Well, three days times as many DC's there are. Let's just say Jehovah OWNS that racetrack's ass for the Summer, shall we? In fact, Charmaine, DID YOU KNOW we even leave the racktrack in a greater condition than when we arrived?" Oh brother (no pun intended)! As I am typing this, I realize what a big farce that was, too. Hey everyone! Let's get Satan's house of play into even BETTER shape...Jehovah's gonna destroy them anyway, so let them have their fun while they can. Worldly fools! After a while, I didn't even invite anyone. I couldn't justify us having anything to do with the racetrack.
They then started to have the DC's on a college campus, (which again is hypocritical, since they advise against getting a college degree for the most part) and I thought it was pretty far away. As always, we were supposed to invite people, but I would always end up sharing a room with a best friend of mine. So to me, if someone actually wanted to go, I would either have to drive over 1 hour back and forth each day or share my room with this interested person. Um, how the hell do I know this is a stable person and won't stab us in the middle of the night? Just because you have a return visit or bible study with someone, it doesn't make them roommate material! I'm not saying anything WOULD have happened, but I'm not saying it WOULDN'T HAVE, either. Criminy! I definitely wouldn't ask some sisters I knew to share a room for a few days INSIDE the "truth". What makes the WTBTS think I would want a possible stranger sneaking into my bed in the middle of the night spooning me (Unless she was cute of course..lmao) or knifing me to death?
It's incredible how, once you are out of all that bullshit, you can stand back and just look in amazement at what we accepted because of men claiming to be spokespersons for God Almighty. I am so fucking grateful to be where I am today. I don't have to fight anyone for a seat. I also can pray BEFORE I eat my sandwhich and not while I'm making it. Lastly, I have no worries about anyone spooning me in the middle of the night that I don't want to.
