JUSTICE34:
Back when I was in years ago, there was an aggressive push to get everybody to pioneer. Didn’t matter who you were, they pushed it relentlessly.
They fawned all over pioneers and they got invited to special gatherings and dinners. If you weren’t pioneering you were made to feel guilty..But, I could not let this affect me because I HAD to work. I saw some younger people my age who pioneered and lived on the ‘edge’ with various cleaning jobs..They and some older types (affluent ladies with a non-JW husband who let them do their thing) would try to tell me what ‘blessings’ they receive and that I should ‘pray real hard for faith’, etc..It still never moved me to do anything so rash as to quit my decent full time job to pioneer!
In time I noticed I was avoided and not invited anywhere much. I also heard the remarks and hints about ‘materialism’ and ‘lack of faith’. I just plugged along and stayed on the fringes of the congregation.
Now..all these years later: I am Retired but would have been Out of Luck if I had listened..The younger pioneer couples (who would also be Baby Boomers) some might be doing ‘okay’ because at some point years ago they wised up (probably needing medical benefits) and one of them got an office job. Good for them if they did.
But, those older affluent retirees (the Greatest Generation) who were pushing pioneering and poverty for younger people there - have passed away and not even around to help anybody gullible enough to have listened!