Dan Sydlik (page 3)

Brock Talon

Excerpt from my book "Journey to God's House" - Chapter "My GB can lick your GB"

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Back in those days, two other Governing Body members George Gangas and Dan Sydlik were still alive and walked the Bethel halls as well. These two Governing Body members could not have been more different from each other. Now, keep in mind when reading the following stories that Governing Body members were practically worshiped among Jehovah's Witnesses, as there was no one higher on the JW food chain than they were. Besides, it was thought that they had a direct line of communication with God Himself. How could you be bigger than that? It was like hobnobbing with Moses or Abraham.

Dan Sydlik at the time usually played the voice of God in most of the convention dramas. (As mentioned before, conventions were large annual gatherings of Jehovah's Witnesses.) The JWs who ran these conventions often re-enacted various Bible stories through mini plays (called dramas) and everybody in these dramas dressed up like ancient Israelites to make the stories more realistic. Those dramatic stories were retold through realistic sets, acting, music, and so on. It turns out that Brother Sydlik used to be the favorite voice of God in these dramas since he was a large man with a big booming voice, not unlike what it might sound like if you took the actor James Earl Jones and plugged him into an amplifier.

I can practically hear Sydlik now in the drama about Moses and the burning bush: "Moeeeses, Moeeeeses! Do not coooome neeeear heeeere. Remoooove the saaandals from your feeeet."

Dan Sydlik had a very self confident, outgoing personality. He walked powerfully and spoke with authority, even more so than most of the other GB. He also had a wife about half his age, which always tickled us young Bethelites. At least one GB was probably having hot sex in their room, we thought.

One day he gave a special invitation-only "New Boys" talk to us first year Bethelites. In this talk, he mentioned that we all needed to "roooound out our personaaaalities because Jehoooovah doesn't like squaaaare things." He said, "Look at naaaature, nothing is square in naaaature, this shows God loves smoooothness." Interesting I thought. I went up to him after that talk and making my way through the crowd surrounding him, I said:

Me: Loved the talk Brother Sydlik. But, regarding the square things in nature issue, I can think of something square in nature.

Sydlik: [eyeballs me for a second] Ohhhhhhh? Whaaaat?

Me: [confidently] Sodium Chloride. Table salt. It's a perfect cube. [I smile]

Sydlik: [grabs my tie and pulls me closer to his face] Whaaat's your naame boooy? If you're wronnng, there's a job chaaange in it for you! [playing at being mad]

Crowd: HaHaHaHa.

Me: [smiling, knowing he is playing] My name is Brock, sir. And it's Sodium Chloride. [now tickled pink with this]

Sydlik: [letting go of me seeing as I am getting the joke that he's pretending to be mad at me] Har, har, har! Gooood one boy! [walks off]

***

I liked both Sydlik and Gangas, as they were real people and did and acted pretty much as they pleased, but in a good way. They seemed completely oblivious to the stodgy, careful, and calculated way many "Bethel Heavies" handled themselves. ("Heavies" meant important people like the GB or the many Bethel "committee" members.) They also seemed to have a genuine love of people that I didn't see in many of the other prominent Bethelites at that time.

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Brock

wannaexit

In my opinion, it doesn't matter how good and moderate Sidlik may have appeared, but he was a part of a group of men that through the years have cause much damage. Guilty by association! At least in my book.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

I liked Sydlik. While he came across as powerful with that booming voice, he had a hearty laugh and seemed to truly care about all of us. He had a way of making bethel really seem like a family. I remember several of his talks and comments where he expressed genuine appreciation for both the new members and the elderly in the family.

Many of us met him when we were still "new boys", and instantly liked him. It's been a while, so I can't recall and won't include the exact details of one situation I encountered. Since Morning Worship attendance was required, and you MUST be on time, it meant you had to get there early. And Dan was visiting my location and was quite early. Of course, the coffee was already brewed and waiting, long before morning worship. But it was forbidden to partake... except for Dan. Most of us already knew this custom, but when Dan poured his coffee, one of the new waiters said, "You're not supposed to have coffee before Morning Worship." Dan replied, "Who ya gonna tell?" Some time later, the stupid rule was officially dropped.

There were lots of other Dan stories like that. He seemed to like order and progress, but he didn't seem to care much for all the rules. And he really seemed to like people. We were really sad when his health problems came along and seemed to age him 20 years in the span of about 9 months or so.

Swingle was a character. I didn't know him as well, but heard interesting stories from others. Barber was really a character. A young bethelite asked Barber for advice about how to decide if the sister he liked was the right one... Carey told him, "well, take her to the beach and see what you've got!" Barry could be funny, too.

The one I completely disliked was Jaracz. I didn't like his wife either. GB 2.0 is "organization men" crafted mostly in his image.

done4good

Thank you all, (especially those with direct anecdotal experience), for your replies. Many of the anecdotes confirm similar situations my friend spoke of, and my brief encounter with Sydlik at lunch in Little Italy 25 years ago. I think the common thread that can be seen is that he, (along with a few others such as Swingle, perhaps), were decent people themselves, that unfortunately allowed their company man status, (really the only status they could possibly have at that level), to bring out the worst of their humanity when certain situations allowed for that, (e.g. Sanchez, Dunlap, etc.). On the other hand, it seemed Sydlik was a moderating force in a system still very much operating under the Knorr template. Life committed to a cult is a bitch, especially for its leaders in some respects, I suppose.

I would disagree with those that claim he was some closet apostate, however. He was from a different time, when the newly created GB perhaps thought it could affect change away from the Knorr/Franz model. Of course, that was both naive and impossible, since the system itself is authoritarian in nature, and as a result, inherently very flawed. The current GB, not surprisingly, clearly has no one left of the 1970s mindset. The immediate goals of the GB's existence today are quite different from what they were then.

It is a given that any one individual or group of individuals that somehow actually believe they solely represent god has the potential to do some very serious harm to those that actually believe in them. In other words, while the system itself is evil to the core, well meaning individuals will end up doing some very harmful things both directly and ambiently, to those that followed their delusional course. Perhaps the worst of that abuse is brought about by sincerity itself, since this quality has the unfortunate insidious effect of convincing others of one's "correctness" of their course of action. I think this gets to the core of why many, (my JW friend included), continue to believe and follow these sincere ones' course to their own demise. It is probably a good thing the current GB are as megalomaniacal as they are. This in of itself is waking people up.

d4g

Vidiot

Guys like that are a thing of the past, these days.

sparrowdown

My only experience with Bro Sydlik was hearing his talks, but he was one of my favorite speakers. He seemed warm intelligent and genuine. There weren't many like him but the ones that were kept me hanging on to the hope that the organization itself was good and there were just a "few bad apples," a theory to which I subscribed to for a long time before realizing it was the barrel itself that was turning the apples bad.

Vidiot

Brock Talon - ..."My GB can lick your GB"...

Considering some of the stories that have come out of Bethel (past and present), I can't help but wonder if there's more than a little actual truth to that chapter title. :smirk:

Vidiot

sparrowdown - "...it was the barrel itself that was turning the apples bad."

* applauding *

Beautifully put; definately a contendor for "quote of the day".

x

It's quite the paradigm shift when an XJW reaches the point in their exit where they realize this.

sparky1

Not to hijack this thread, but George Gangas has been mentioned. I was assigned to Murray Hill congregation and George Gangas also attended that congregation. He had 2 'girlfriends' that also attended here. Two older single sisters that he always sat with and he would sit in between them. I can't recall if the women were fleshly sisters or not. At any rate, during the songs, they would take turns rubbing each others back or putting their arms around each other and singing to each other. (George and the women that is.) They were all single and had a grand old time. Yet if a young brother, that was a nobody, did that with two young single sisters he would have to face a judicial committee for sure.As far as his views as a member of the Governing Body (tm) is concerned, I never had a real, deep conversation with him so I have no idea what he thought.

Vidiot

Wait, wasn't Sydlik the guy who was rumored to have privately admitted to someone that the religion needed to be overhauled from scratch, starting from Genesis 1:1?

Dan Sydlik

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