GOVERNING BODY: the role of CONSISTENCY in identifying malpractice and malfeasance

by Terry in

jw
friends

consistency plays a crucial role in determining the inherent truthfulness of statements and sources.

reliability of information: if a source consistently provides accurate information, it builds trust and is considered reliable.

inconsistent information, on the other hand, can lead to doubts about the source’s credibility.. .

Terry

Beth Sariman hour ago

They claim to be Gods mouthpiece. Then exclaim to be neither inspired nor infallible.

And do not wish to apologize for anything whether people have been hurt or killed for their erroneous policies.
_________________________

TAKE ONE STEP BACK AND LOOK...
What do we see? A statement given by an attorney for the GB to mouth as often as possible.
To wit: We are NOT responsible for anything and therefore we cannot be HELD responsible for anything.

Therefore: DO WHATEVER WE SAY if you are dumb enough to believe God is using us to tell you what to do.
But don't blame us if it goes disastrously wrong for you.

9

GOVERNING BODY: the role of CONSISTENCY in identifying malpractice and malfeasance

by Terry in

jw
friends

consistency plays a crucial role in determining the inherent truthfulness of statements and sources.

reliability of information: if a source consistently provides accurate information, it builds trust and is considered reliable.

inconsistent information, on the other hand, can lead to doubts about the source’s credibility.. .

Terry

Soon (if not already) this religion (which began - ironically - anti-organization and anti-religion) will
avoid disfellowship of PIMO by a neat trick it has already begun to use:
IF YOU DISAGREE you have DISASSOCIATED yourself.
The GB avoids being the bad guy. The "My way or the highway" authoritarian stance attracts
condemnation in several nations and loses them charity status and (worst of all monetary stipends.)
POWER always multiplies itself in governance. How this is revealed is usually in the multiplying
of RULES. The more rules that appear, the more opportunities to exert Control.

Abuse of power creates ugly mental health problems for the underlings/true believers.
The more intelligent members can only cope by believing two opposites simultaneous
and consequently living two lives (one hidden).
Self-worth in a society of slavery is achieved through service. Approval is sought by obedience.

The GB is like that Sci-Fi Head with tentacles :

MERELY THINKING UP RULES and COMMANDING COMPLIANCE while those enslaved carry them out.
Shameless as this is they publicly declare for themselves AMNESTY by saying "We owe no apology for getting it wrong - this is how Jehovah does business."
Oh - okay - if YOU say so.
ALL THE EMBARRASSING BELIEFS we all believed will be REMOVED one by one.
BLOOD - for example. Watch it disappear from contention. It is happening right this minute.

Like a snake shedding its skin - what is emerging is a new kind of serpent much larger, much more cunning.
And completely without shame or blame but with the same old game.
DO AS WE SAY - WE ARE THE CHRIST. (Actually, they are the blushing bride.) :)

9

GOVERNING BODY: the role of CONSISTENCY in identifying malpractice and malfeasance

by Terry in

jw
friends

consistency plays a crucial role in determining the inherent truthfulness of statements and sources.

reliability of information: if a source consistently provides accurate information, it builds trust and is considered reliable.

inconsistent information, on the other hand, can lead to doubts about the source’s credibility.. .

Terry

Consistency plays a crucial role in determining the inherent truthfulness of statements and sources.
Here’s how:

Reliability of Information: If a source consistently provides accurate information, it builds trust and is considered reliable. Inconsistent information, on the other hand, can lead to doubts about the source’s credibility.
Verification of Facts: Consistent information across multiple independent sources can help verify the truthfulness of a statement. If there are inconsistencies, further investigation may be needed.
Logical Consistency: Statements that are logically consistent (i.e., they do not contradict each other) are more likely to be truthful. Logical inconsistencies often indicate errors or falsehoods.
Temporal Consistency: If a source’s statements remain consistent over time, this can indicate a commitment to truthfulness. Sources that frequently change their statements may be seen as less reliable.

It’s also crucial to be aware of the potential for consistent misinformation, where false statements are repeated consistently to give the illusion of truth. Critical thinking and fact-checking are always necessary when evaluating the truthfulness of statements and sources.

EXAMPLES

Here are some of the doctrinal changes in the Jehovah’s Witness interpretations from 2017 to 2023:

New Light Doctrine: The Governing Body (GB) discusses questions and if unanimous, they announce it as new light 1.
Imperfection of the GB: The GB are imperfect and sometimes make mistakes. They are not to apologize or even admit they were wrong 1.
Resurrection Doctrine: It used to be that if you were disfellowshipped and died before Armageddon you would be resurrected unless you were really bad. Now, they are saying pretty much everyone will make it through and then during the 1000 year reign everyone can decide if they want to live in paradise 1.
Reporting Ministry: No more reporting ministry only that you participated in some form 1.

Please note that these changes are based on the information available and there might be more changes not listed here. For a more comprehensive list, you might want to check out resources dedicated to tracking changes in Jehovah’s Witness doctrine 2 3.

_________________
(Note: last updated back in 2017)

https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive

3

Governing Body as an UNRELIABLE AUTHORITY and the Consequences of its Misjudgments

by Terry in

jw
friends

i've been experimenting with artificial intelligence as a research tool and for its lightning quick ability to summarize and convert information about the watchtower org into an essay.

the following is the result of 2 separate text prompts.

the first is in the form of a final argument before a jury.the second is a breaking down of the analogy between legal liability in healthcare and tying it in with religious authoritymalpractice.

Terry

Speaking of Malpractice:

The Maya Kowalski lawsuit vs John Hopkins is a medical malpractice case that involves allegations of false imprisonment, battery, negligence, and emotional distress. The lawsuit was filed by the family of Maya Kowalski, a 17-year-old girl who suffers from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a chronic pain condition that affects her limbs. The family claims that Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, wrongfully separated Maya from her mother, Beata Kowalski, who later committed suicide, and mistreated Maya during her involuntary hospitalization for three months in 2016 and 2017. The family also accuses the hospital of sexually abusing Maya while she was under their care.

The lawsuit gained public attention after a Netflix documentary titled “Take Care of Maya” was released in June 2023, which chronicled Maya’s journey with CRPS and her family’s struggle with the hospital. The documentary showed how Maya’s health improved after she received an unconventional treatment in Mexico, where she was given a high dose of ketamine and induced into a coma. However, when Maya experienced a flare-up of pain and was taken to the emergency room at Johns Hopkins, the hospital staff suspected that her mother was suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a rare mental disorder that causes a person to fabricate or induce illness in another person, usually a child. The hospital then reported the family to the state authorities, who removed Maya from her mother’s custody and placed her in foster care. The hospital also subjected Maya to various forms of abuse, such as forcing her to strip down to her underwear, putting her under video surveillance, and kissing and touching her inappropriately.

On November 9, 2023, a Florida jury found the hospital liable on all counts against it and awarded the Kowalski family more than $261 million in damages, including $211 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages. The jury also found that the hospital intentionally inflicted emotional distress on Maya and caused her mother’s death. The hospital has denied the allegations and said that it acted in the best interest of Maya’s health and safety. The hospital also said that it initiated an internal investigation and contacted law enforcement as soon as it became aware of the sexual abuse claims. The hospital is expected to appeal the verdict.

3

Governing Body as an UNRELIABLE AUTHORITY and the Consequences of its Misjudgments

by Terry in

jw
friends

i've been experimenting with artificial intelligence as a research tool and for its lightning quick ability to summarize and convert information about the watchtower org into an essay.

the following is the result of 2 separate text prompts.

the first is in the form of a final argument before a jury.the second is a breaking down of the analogy between legal liability in healthcare and tying it in with religious authoritymalpractice.

Terry

Some people pay up front for false belief while others pay later.

JW theology is Buy Now and Jehovah will PAY LATER.

19

Who is the who of WHO we ARE? And when we die......where does the "who" go?

by Terry in

if and when you deposit the check from me in your own bank--what happens to my actual personal wealth?.

2.what happens to my ability to use my entire personal wealth?

so, how do we answer the question of what happens to you when you die?.

Terry

I admit, I had trouble seeing the relevance of Russian dolls with the original questions you proposed.

___________

The analogy of the dolls hearkens back to the Greek view. All of civilization, if it were a video on rewind, would be a series of people shrinking into infants and disappearing up inside their mother's womb.
We all begin INSIDE of a HUMAN (mother) and the seed from INSIDE the father on and on until One woman and one man and this is certainly not dissimilar to the Russian dolls conceptually.

The problem most true believers have is in having to STOP at the first Human mother and father.
Evolutionarily speaking, it can't stop there. We must transition our thinking into gradients of ingredients ALMOST human.
Continue rewinding back and back and back as the branch tips disappear into limbs, limbs into trunks, trunks into saplings, into sprouts, seeds, and so on back and back and back.

What are WE? We are partly EVERYTHING that came before us.
When we die, some of our constituent bits and bobs become soil and airborne particles like scattered bricks for walls all over the planet.
Some of Julius Caesar's atoms are inside of us and so forth. Everything is partly everything that came before it.

"Identity" is very particular and vanishingly brief. Your mixture and my mixture are unstable and unsustainable, and we come apart, but our salvageable detritus is up for grabs if we allow our corpse to decay.

If we manage to create something that touches the lives of others while we exist - that's as close as we come to memorial perpetuity. Khufu's pyramid, et al.

19

Who is the who of WHO we ARE? And when we die......where does the "who" go?

by Terry in

if and when you deposit the check from me in your own bank--what happens to my actual personal wealth?.

2.what happens to my ability to use my entire personal wealth?

so, how do we answer the question of what happens to you when you die?.

Terry

Have you ever pondered why the human mind "demands" rationality? Why should we be rational and where did rationality come from?

__________
I'll let Ayn Rand answer that query.

Rationality

¶

Rationality is man’s basic virtue, the source of all his other virtues. Man’s basic vice, the source of all his evils, is the act of unfocusing his mind, the suspension of his consciousness, which is not blindness, but the refusal to see, not ignorance, but the refusal to know. Irrationality is the rejection of man’s means of survival and, therefore, a commitment to a course of blind destruction; that which is anti-mind, is anti-life.

The virtue of Rationality means the recognition and acceptance of reason as one’s only source of knowledge, one’s only judge of values and one’s only guide to action. It means one’s total commitment to a state of full, conscious awareness, to the maintenance of a full mental focus in all issues, in all choices, in all of one’s waking hours. It means a commitment to the fullest perception of reality within one’s power and to the constant, active expansion of one’s perception, i.e., of one’s knowledge. It means a commitment to the reality of one’s own existence, i.e., to the principle that all of one’s goals, values and actions take place in reality and, therefore, that one must never place any value or consideration whatsoever above one’s perception of reality. It means a commitment to the principle that all of one’s convictions, values, goals, desires and actions must be based on, derived from, chosen and validated by a process of thought—as precise and scrupulous a process of thought, directed by as ruthlessly strict an application of logic, as one’s fullest capacity permits. It means one’s acceptance of the responsibility of forming one’s own judgments and of living by the work of one’s own mind (which is the virtue of Independence). It means that one must never sacrifice one’s convictions to the opinions or wishes of others (which is the virtue of Integrity)—that one must never attempt to fake reality in any manner (which is the virtue of Honesty)—that one must never seek or grant the unearned and undeserved, neither in matter nor in spirit (which is the virtue of Justice). It means that one must never desire effects without causes, and that one must never enact a cause without assuming full responsibility for its effects—that one must never act like a zombie, i.e., without knowing one’s own purposes and motives—that one must never make any decisions, form any convictions or seek any values out of context, i.e., apart from or against the total, integrated sum of one’s knowledge—and, above all, that one must never seek to get away with contradictions. It means the rejection of any form of mysticism, i.e., any claim to some nonsensory, nonrational, nondefinable, supernatural source of knowledge. It means a commitment to reason, not in sporadic fits or on selected issues or in special emergencies, but as a permanent way of life.

19

Who is the who of WHO we ARE? And when we die......where does the "who" go?

by Terry in

if and when you deposit the check from me in your own bank--what happens to my actual personal wealth?.

2.what happens to my ability to use my entire personal wealth?

so, how do we answer the question of what happens to you when you die?.

Terry

________________________What do we have here?___________________________

Two ball bearings manufactured at the same time, in the same factory, by rigorous engineering standards, and produced to serve the same function inside a particular machine.

QUESTION: Are they IDENTICAL?

ANSWER: No

________________

There is one on your left and there is one on your right.

These do not occupy the same space.

You can remove one and the other will not follow.

_________________

These ball bearings match identical specifications, true--but the practical test of identity is indeed separateness. The very fact I must refer to them and you must think of them as quantities identify the rational distinction our minds demand!

_______________

RATIONAL MIND and the problem of IDENTITY

To exist is to be something somewhere rather than nothing nowhere.

The way the human mind addresses the nature of IDENTITY is to break it up into separate characteristics.

Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why are the usual conceptual categories.

_____________IMAGINATIVE MIND and the problem of IDENTITY_______________

To "exist" is different from exist (without quotation marks).

To "exist" comes about by your mind assigning characteristics--not to an actual thing--but to your own created mental mock-up.

Example: Playwright James M. Barrie, imagined the character of Peter Pan. He wrote the play which was performed (made real or realized) on stage by real actors.

As a result, other people all over the world can think of Peter Pan too. Children can assign the mental value of "existence" to that imagined character.

________________Are there two kinds of EXISTENCE?_______________

The slippery slope of BELIEF is the result of our mind being able to perform a task NOT UNLIKE that of those 2 ball bearings. These 2 tasks are practically identical without, in fact, being identical.

We can use our 5 senses to identify (we smell it, we see it, we hear it, we taste it, we touch it.)

OR. . .

We can use our imagination to assign a mental mock-up (internal creation of our thought) and then BELIEVE it into "existence."

An amazing thing is our mind / brain.

__________________WHAT IS PHANTOM LIMB SYNDROME?_______________

A phantom limb is a complex phenomenon involving a sensation that an amputated or a missing limb is still attached to the body.
_______________

The real limb was removed, but your mind acts upon your body to report its PRESENCE.

The limb that isn't there can 'itch" or ache. Is this evidence of a ghost limb?

No, it is a false report by your own mind giving you false evidence which you then BELIEVE.

________________

Do we have 2 sets of SENSES? No. When our mind hallucinates, although it is our only source of information about our self and surroundings, we are fooled.

Garbage in = garbage out

False reporting equals false conclusions.

____________________SUBJECTIVE vs. OBJECTIVE___________________

"The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a special court convened in Salem to hear the cases; the first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged that June. Eighteen others followed Bishop to Salem’s Gallows Hill, while some 150 more men, women and children were accused over the next several months."

a study published in Science magazine in 1976 cited the fungus ergot (found in rye, wheat and other cereals), which toxicologists say can cause symptoms such as delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms.

________________

Above are 2 examples of what happens when we rely on our mind to reliably report reality and the information is corrupt.

Subjective thoughts, feelings and beliefs are acted upon as though reliable evidence had been experienced matching reality.

What does OBJECTIVE mean if SUBJECTIVE is simply what goes on inside our head?

OBJECTS can be seen by everybody, measured by the same standards, and no special set of beliefs are necessary to induce their report of the existence and nature of the objects.

_____________________The Cottingly Fairies_______________

Is seeing believing?

______________PROOF of existence?

The famous Cottingley fairies were “photographed” by two girls Elsie Wright, 15, and her cousin Frances Griffiths, 10, in the last days of the First World War. The case got its international acclaim through Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes, who was fascinated by the account and published an article in the Strand Magazine in December 1920. Doyle was completely convinced the photographs were actual evidence of the existence of fairies!

With the world’s attention focused on them, the girls had little option but to stick to their story. A juvenile prank had grown into a mass media circus.

____________________________________

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES have minds and brains and beliefs which are no more or less intelligent

than any other group of believers on planet Earth.

They come from all walks of life with varied educational backgrounds. .

Each JW is not unlike one of 7 or 8 million ball bearings.

These millions are all alike and their unity of purpose is determined by the Watchtower Corporation which--like the manufacturer of ball bearings--exactly specifies the purpose which these teeming millions will serve.

QUESTION: Are all JW's identical or "identical"?

______________

Religiously speaking, by self-identifying with JEHOVAH (Jehovah's Witnesses) rather than JESUS, JW'S cannot be said to use personal, individual and separate consciousness manifesting Christianity in the historical sense.

By renouncing "personal" conversion experience; by not espousing a "born again" confession, and by not engaging in acts of conscience other than REQUIRED manifestations of loyalty to creed, JW's are "identical."

The CULT mind feeds corrupt information to cult members and they all react AS THOUGH theirs is actual reality, rather than imaginative mock-ups of non-verifiable fact.

Do Jehovah's Witnesses actual exist as human individuals?

The jury is out on that one!

Where is the separateness? How--without debate, or internal dialogue--can those 7 or 8 million people be disambiguated?

QUESTION: If the Watchtower suddenly declared Blood Transfusions were a matter of conscience, wouldn't every member immediately believe the exact opposite of what was "True" the moment before without further research, speculation or investigation of a personal nature?

ANWER: Yes! To act otherwise would indicate separateness which is disloyalty which creates disunity which cause that person to suddenly EXIST as an individual. This would end his "existence" by being disfellowship.

________________________

WHAT DOES THIS ALL PURPORT TO MEAN?

All the above is an exercise to distinguish what it means to be a real human being from being an identical cult member without separateness of thought, tastes, personal opinions.

Historically (from the examples of the Salem Witch Trials and the Cottingly Fairies) we discovered how mass belief in defiance of reality leads to disastrous NON-RATIONAL behavior and even murder.

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES may well be nothing more and nothing less than mere 'things' just like utilitarian ball bearings inasmuch as they are denied distinction as thinking, rational creatures.

AND DEATH?
If nobody remembers you after you died, if nothing memorializes you - what is the difference?
Most of these prospective questionings are ethereal.
The scent of honeysuckle, the memory of your grandfather's laugh, a photograph in an antique store,
what are these to anybody and what does it matter? That is the most SUBJECTIVE of all wonderings.

19

Who is the who of WHO we ARE? And when we die......where does the "who" go?

by Terry in

if and when you deposit the check from me in your own bank--what happens to my actual personal wealth?.

2.what happens to my ability to use my entire personal wealth?

so, how do we answer the question of what happens to you when you die?.

Terry

Terry, in your short story, do you think the people went anywhere after they died?

In direct response to your question: "There is no PLACE or destination and there is no GO" in the
usual understanding or meaning of words.
I think about those nested Russian dolls (one inside the other inside another, etc) and visualize
how primitive philosophers (i.e. Ancient Greeks) conceptualized all the civilizations of mankind
that way. Every person who ever existed was inside Adam's balls :)
An artist or writer or any storyteller has worlds and peoples inside the egg and sperm of mere thought and as real or as gossamer as the touch of moonlight on your shoulder.

In other words, more "real" than real.

Here. Not here. Where? Not here.
Or as the Hindus tell it: Turtles all the way down...infinite regress

Recursion: The Nesting Doll of Programming | by Chandler Hanson | Analytics Vidhya | Medium

19

Who is the who of WHO we ARE? And when we die......where does the "who" go?

by Terry in

if and when you deposit the check from me in your own bank--what happens to my actual personal wealth?.

2.what happens to my ability to use my entire personal wealth?

so, how do we answer the question of what happens to you when you die?.

Terry

THAT IDEA is embedded in this very short story I wrote:

THE LUCKY TICKET

Banks closed and long lines formed to snatch a free loaf of bread in hope of feeding a desperate family!
There was nothing Great about the Great Depression.

________

In a cabin in the Appalachian mountains there lived a family of four.
Plain folk. Ignorant. Proud. Godly.

There were two young children, (a boy 12 and a girl 9) as well as their mom and their father who had recently lost his job at the local sawmill.

The children were afraid they'd starve to death. The subject arose all too often.
It was probably a comment they’d overheard the last time they went into the town last week, a final end-of-season trip before winter closed the roads and passes.
______

"Mommy," the little boy moaned, "are we going to die?"

"No, no, no," his mother reassured him as she forced a broad smile.
"Let me show you two something."

Their mother straightened her posture and strode confidently into the adjacent room.
She took her son's hand and walked the boy and his small, delicate sister over to the pantry. . . and opened the door with a mysterious and grand gesture of importance.

She found a step stool and jigged up . . . stretching with some effort to reach a colorful box on the top shelf of the pantry closet.

A thin strap she grasped at last and the tug revealed a rather bountiful box. Their mother turned around with wide eyes and a beaming smile--as though she were holding a Christmas present.

Her cheerful and excited audience overflowed with anticipation reflected in the brightness of their eyes. She paused for effect, arched an eyebrow teasingly, and tossed her head in a gesture of “Follow me.”

The giggling children scampered behind their mom into the kitchen with the precious cargo ceremoniously lowered atop a Lazy Susan turntable.

The mother’s movements were achingly slow, deliberate, and powerfully evocative.
The lid appeared tightly fitted and held in place with two clasps not unlike a steamer trunk only much smaller.
_____
What could possibly be so wonderful to deserve such a presentation?
Their mother tilted the box and cooed a rather musical squeal of self-delight to punctuate the moment of grandeur.

“Here’s our box of miracles! I won this at Sears and Roebuck catalog store! Out of a hundred folks--I drew the lucky ticket!”

Inside: all manner of brightly colored fruit! Perfect Oranges, dazzling bananas, portentous grapes, gleaming cherries, and pineapple of impossible proportions!

"You see that my little Darlin’s?"

The children nodded silently with wonder brimming in their eyes.

Their parents squinted at the box and at each other.
He shrugged. She pursed her lips and snorted.

“Miracle fruit for cheery kids!”

Their mother searched their faces for any signs of disappointment and found none at all.

"As long as we have this we are never going to starve to death, silly boy.”

The brother and his little sister relaxed and radiated a profound relief. The tension fell away as mischievous covetousness arose.

"Can we have a cherry right now?" Her son’s eyebrows lifted.

"No, sweetheart, this is for later. Much later--only for emergencies. You know, just in case…” She stopped herself short of finishing with “... things get really really bad."
_____

Weeks crawled by and their Daddy hunted the woods for squirrel, rabbit or even less appetizing possibilities such as frogs and lizards. The menu and its variety slacked steadily into a kind of punishment rather than a reward as the children began to lose weight.
Bitter cold surrounded them. Clouds hugged the treetops and very little sunlight shone through the permanent ashy gray of full winter.

The normally spry and fidgety little boy and his vigorous sister soon lost the radiance in their eyes. Day by day they became listless . . . played very little . . gradually turned hollow and pale. An old carrot and half a potato made into soup lit no fire inside.

Their parents listened with hearts breaking to muffled whimpering in their beds at night with their little bellies growling like distant thunder.

Sometimes it was unbearable. Maybe one turnip for four people.

Mother would light a candle and fetch the box from the pantry shelf and place it on their bed in front of the starving children as though she were god’s own angel summoned to answer the prayer for salvation.

"It looks so delicious, Mommy! Please, please....can't we have just a taste of.....one....just one grape?"

But, their mother would sternly shake her head from side to side with great sadness and tell them it was for later. Her face was a mask of profound resolve. She heaved two lingering sighs before the awful phrase.

"When things get really bad." (After all, there was grass and shoe leather left.)

The little ones understood in the marrow of their bones, their Mommy and Daddy really loved them and once again, reassured-- they'd drift off to a peaceful sleep. Their parents held back their sorrow and buried their faces in the pillows to stifle the sobbing of despair.
______

Winter was hard and snowdrift prevented much hunting. All game animals seemed to vanish. Each hour of the day was like the next. Neither day nor night seemed much different from the one before or the one yet to come.

Nights were exhausting and punishing in freezing gales overcast with frequent high winds and flashing bolts of hostile lightning snarling like beasts outside. Every moment conspired to end hope itself. Dreams paused and even the pain of anemic hope ceased all meaning.
_____

Spring had come!

The quick thaw brought a new season as the forest came alive with birdsong and the rustle of rabbits and foxes in tall grass.

Hunters on horseback arrived at the cabin.

The burly men dismounted and unpacked a sled filled with comestibles. The tall man with the red beard knocked the door with his large knuckled fist. Loud. Louder. Again. Once more.

Knowing the people who lived inside, they grew worried.

The anxious trappers leaned hard into it and burst open the door and called out, "Anybody home?"

It was abyss dark inside and there pervaded a terribly offensive smell chilling the hearts of those men.
These were seasoned men accustomed to most hard things in life and yet they stood motionless in a premonition neither was willing to accept.

Gradually, their eyes adjusted to the veil of darkness.

They found them. All dead in their beds.

Holding each other-- the little brother and sister; the Mom and Dad.

Gaunt and wispy they were-- like the limbs of a leafless tree.
The stillness was heartbreaking...impossible to take in or accept. Profoundly cruel and yet not uncommon in these mountains and hard times generally.

On the dinner table a few feet away stood a box.

The men jerked at rags used as curtains, tugging them away from the window glass and the garish beams of light flooded the room with dreadful details to haunt their nightmares ever after.

They crept over to the table and the box--the only color visible in the entire world inside the cabin.

The men opened it not knowing what to expect.

Inside that box was an obscenely cheery and colorful display like you’d sometimes see in the large department stores back East.
A few gnawed pieces of colored fruit.
Four empty spaces.

Tucked in the corner of the lid was the lucky ticket.

They slowly made out words under the lid:
"It looks just like the real thing!"

At the bottom of the card in small letters, it read:
WAX FRUIT Sears and Roebuck.

Caution

Tiny letters in red:

(For Display Only...poisonous)

__________

T.E.Walstrom

Terry

Posts by Terry

Beth Sariman hour ago

Rationality