I am old enough to remember the days when Conventions lasted many long days and large
numbers of brothers were employed in preparing hot meals served on trays, army-style. I can
also recall how good these steam cooked meals tasted - and how policemen, assigned to
patrol the convention grounds eagerly stood in line for their free dinners. This got replaced
with cold sandwiches and off brand sodas often handed out by young brothers and sisters
who volunteered - partly as a way to meet each other!
and all that's gone now
I can recall working in the bindery and pressroom at Bethel in Brooklyn. We would
sometimes slog along thru the snow on our way to the factory, pretending we were
German soldiers sentenced to fight on "the Russian front". After a grueling four years
fending off nervous breakdowns, lack of sleep, occasional alcoholism and enforced poverty
( $14 a month!!!!!) we'd leave and get married.
and that's gone too. I noted that the Society's new tract for young people, "Youths -
What Will You Do With Your Life?" extolled Bethel service at the very time the Society
was actively downsizing Bethel!
Remember how bold and radical the magazines were? Now, they must fear everything
they say or print in the computer age - because anyone can download and print any
embarrassing remark and hand a copy to a government official!
Remember "new truths"? However oxymoronic ( emphasis on the moronic) that may
sound, new "understandings" were eagerly awaited.
and that's all gone too - because after the death of Frederick Franz, no one in the
corporate /committee structure of the Watchtower Society carries his authority
or gravitas. Changes suddenly demanded by the Society's lawyers don't count.
Remember the huge placements of gaudily colored books? Remember the millions
of "Truth" books that got placed?
Gone, gone, gone. With dwindling contributions, they can't afford literature
like this anymore. Even the 'Awake' is being reduced.
Somewhere in this process, wiser men would have reasoned that 'we can't
expect people to be 'separate from the world' without building an infrastructure
to support that separateness - but then again, wiser men wouldn't continue to
engage in "Armageddon-is-Tomorrow - so-why-plan-for-the-future-anyway" thinking,
especially after a hundred and twenty years of failure.
They could have built their own college. They could have built their own pension
or insurance structures or business networks. Instead, what little infrastructure they
have, they are tearing down.
In the end, they will leave nothing of lasting value behind. The Muslims
built beautiful architecture, the Shakers left us furniture, the Greeks left us
philosophy, the Catholics left us cathedrals ... but the Watchtower....
will leave nothing behind except the collective cellulose pulp their forgettable literature
was made of
and time will quickly turn that into compost and dust.
metatron