Hey all of you
Thanks for giving me a laugh. Some great stories. I think I exhausted my own embarrasing moments in a previous thread but I do remember a couple of incidents that were the painful variety rather than amusing.
The first one happened when I was new to the meetings, about 7 years old and it was a Watchtower study taken by a highly respected elder. Suddenly the doors at the rear of the hall burst open and a man ran down the aisle waving his arms and sobbing. He was heartbroken as he had just lost his child and had come to ask why God could let it happen. Our's was probably the nearest religious meeting of sorts he could find. The wailing and crying seemed to go on forever but the embarrasing aspect of it was the brother continued on with the study as if the man was invisible. Can you imagine how the poor guy felt? Eventually the hall servents woke up and ushered him out as quickly as poss and the WT study went on with no reaction from anybody. I was only a kid but I expected some sort of soothing remarks to be directed at the man or just some acknowledgement.
The second incident was many years later and is another example of how thrown JW's can be when the norm is challenged. We had been using a seaside town for assemblies for years and they were great occasions loaded with atmosphere. It was great nipping out for candy floss in the break or taking a stroll on the beach. Anyway, I digress...well all good things must come to an end and the society decided we needed to build an Assembly Hall (financed and built by local brothers). The rumours had been circulating and a special talk was scheduled in a service meeting to start putting the pressure on for donations and to introduce yet another contribution box.
Brother W giving the talk was well into it when a Brother B put his hand up and asked if he could make a point. Bro W looked flustered and agreed and we all watched bro B proceed to walk to the front of the hall, pull down the Blackboard, pick up and switch on the second mike then turn to the hall while chalking various figures on the board. He explained how much the project was expected to cost and compared it with the current costs of hiring the hall at seaside blah blah. Bro W had turned white and we were all in mouth-open shocked silence. Someone was daring to raise an argument against the society in full public view. The poor guy might as well have sprouted a forked tail and horns right there on that platform. After a few minutes Bro W found his voice and told him to go back to his seat. I will never forget the horrible embarrased and horrified atmosphere!!That incident was talked about for a long long time...but it was even longer before Bro B ever regained privileges in the congregation. Ouch!
BTW the assembly hall was built and I was sooo relieved I was already baptised so I didn't have the humiliation of parading in a soaked cossie in front of the whole circuit ( oh what a great idea having a pool on the platform!)
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