"Sky Pilot"

TMS

Being an active Witness in the 60's could be a heady experience. The anti-war and civil rights movements seemed to almost run parallel to JW theology for a minute or two.

My Volkswagen am car radio blared songs of protest as I drove from one return visit(back call) to the other. One of these protest songs was:

SKY PILOT
He blesses the boys as they stand in line
The smell of gun grease and the bayonets they shine
He’s there to help them all that he can
To make them feel wanted he’s a good holy man
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You’ll never, never, never reach the sky
He smiles at the young soldiers
Tells them its all right
He knows of their fear in the forthcoming fight
Soon there’ll be blood and many will die
Mothers and fathers back home they will cry
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You’ll never, never, never reach the sky
He mumbles a prayer and it ends with a smile
The order is given
They move down the line
But he’s still behind and he’ll meditate
But it won’t stop the bleeding or ease the hate
As the young men move out into the battle zone
He feels good, with God you’re never alone
He feels tired and he lays on his bed
Hopes the men will find courage in the words that he said
Sky pilot.....sky Pilot
How high can you fly
You’ll never, never, never reach the sky
You’re soldiers of God you must understand
The fate of your country is in your young hands
May God give you strength
Do your job real well
If it all was worth it
Only time it will tell
In the morning they return
With tears in their eyes
The stench of death drifts up to the skies
A soldier so ill looks at the sky pilot
Remembers the words
"Thou shalt not kill"
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You never, never, never reach the sky

Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" was also one of my favorites:

"Look at all the hate there is in Red China. Then take a look around at Selma, Alabama. . . . . No, no, no you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction!"

Robert Zimmerman's "Blowin" In the Wind" was almost a Witness anthem.

Those were the days. A case of "Truth" books and a case of "Evolution" books in the hatch of my VW bug and my wife and I were off to the Gulf of Mexico to talk to the hippies and vacationers. "Heavy, dude!"

TMS

Outaservice

Hey, how can we be sure you were a real brother and not an imposter?

Now, which was it, 'Back Call' or 'Return Visit'? Maybe it was another 'Rendevous'!

Outaservice

TMS

Outaservice,

The rendezvous was where we met for service, not a call! LOL

At least that was the new terminology in the "Lamp" book. I preferred "area study" and "contact point", like it was when I was growing up.

You've made a good point, though. Isn't it funny that we had to second-guess ourselves as to even the wording of our prayers, making certain they were "new light" accurate?

TMS

COMF

I prepared a Sunday talk once for a congregation in our circuit where I knew there were a couple of teen musicians wanting to form a band. I actually made a tape consisting of segments from popular songs of the time, and played it through at the KH. Then I worked back through each of the lines, tying the thought in with a bible scripture or witness teaching. It was very well put together, in my mind... I don't know why I wasn't invited back there again.

Here are some of the lines I used:

10 Years After, "I'd Love to Change the World":
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I leave it up to you

Heart, "Dog and Butterfly":
We're getting older
The world's getting colder
For the life of me,
I don't know the reason why

Marshall Tucker Band, "Running Like the Wind":
I know in your mind
That you vision this paradise
A place we could live forevermore.
So let's search wide and far
For that mountain or that shooting star
Or a sign
That might show us the way.

And finally, Van Halen...
Look at all these little kids
Taking care of the music biz
Don't their business take good care of me

COMF

TMS

COMF:

U may have encountered Dale T., ex-circuit overseer, who held the Society's outline out in front of him, in plain view, during every talk, monitoring the speaker's adherence to the script.

Speakers who strayed from the outline were never invited back.

"Hey Jude, don't be afraid. Take a sad song and make it better."

TMS

COMF

Sheesh, TMS, they might as well have done away with speakers like they did away with the live music. Just can the talks, and everybody can sit and listen in the comfort and assurance that the same brothers who do the tape and drama voices are giving the speeches.

COMF

TMS

You are aware this is the organization that used to send it reps out with phonograph recordings of its President to play for the householder???

TMS

Sliding back to the original protest-song topic, many householders used the desparaging term "draft-dodger" at the door. I always knew where my draft card was and was quick to retrieve it, showing I had not "dodged" the draft, but was duly registered and had received a IVD classification(MINISTER OF RELIGION).

My commonality with the "peaceknicks" was narrow. I was not anti-Vietnam, per se or anti-war. I believed in God's great final war. Thus, I was not a pacifist. But I was not willing to absorb a Nipponized bit of the old 6th Ave. El or as General Sherman said: "War is ----."

TMS

"Sky Pilot"

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