Heard gave 3 talks at the convention. One thing I noticed rather quickly was how stuck he was to his notes. He rarely looked up. And then I realized that, he was actually reading everything word for word. But he was literally reading everything. He held up his notes, the audience could clearly see them. He read everything, including scriptures.
One of his talks was in order to release a new Bible story book. So he was reciting about 4 or 5 bible stories. And you would think that he would be able to just look at the audience and recite the story right? No. He read each story word for word. Every once in a while he would loose his place, and it was on something so simple, like "So Daniel was about to....(3 seconds later... be eating by the lions, but no, Jehovah..." It was stuff like that, that got me really looking at this guy.
He never just talks. Never, unless he cracks a joke. My first thought was, 'this guy's loosing it in his old age, so he has to give manuscript talks only'. He kept shuffling the pages, one to the other and at the end of each talk he would read things like, "Well, friends, we truly have been instructed by Jehovah...." but he would read those words and NOT look at the audience at all when he should be able to extenperaniously (spelling) speak those things. It should just come from the heart right?
I mean, the guy has like 150 years of full time service, right? So why doesn't he have an idea of his own like all the other speakers that were before and after him. My thought, is that he's getting to the point where he's so old he can't have thoughts that just flow like that. If he gave a talk like any of the three he gave at the convention, he would be pulled aside after the school and counseled. But everybody just lapped it up. :(