Ok, here is another HD story which Gloria reminded me of. I had completely forgotten it.
Rick Hudson was a very funny guy who set at our table. He worked in composition. He was prematurely bald on top, but had plenty of hair on the sides. Ricky was always trying to do something funny. One day he went to the barber for a haircut and on a whim asked the barber to style his hair like Bozo the Clown. The barber did it, making the hair stick out over his ears on the sides. He went back to his department, expecting all the guys to say "Hey Bozo", but instead, they said, "Harold Dies!" Needless to say, Ricky quickly combed it back normal.
Tom
Tom Cabeen
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Tom Cabeen
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Tom Cabeen
Oh, no, Watters! You've done it again!! You've gone and made me remember a story about Harold Dies...
When I was a new boy, green as grass, I was assigned to the King's County Congregation (the "other one" that met in the Bethel Kingdom Hall besides the Brooklyn Heights congregation). On one particularly hot and sultry summer night at the end of the service meeting the Congregation Servant (Harold Dies) stood up to make an announcement. His face was serious and we all knew that what was coming would not be pleasant. He looked around, slowly opened a large manila envelope, pulled some materials from it, and laid them on the podium. He picked up a poster and held it up for all to see. It had a drawing of a rather obscure cartoon character and the words "Dick Dastardly" under it. It also had Harold's name in large letters at the bottom. I had seen the ads on the back of the Cheerios boxes at breakfast. You could send in maybe a buck and a few box tops, fill out a form and get a personalized poster, membership card, and some other junk, possibly a decoder ring and some other stuff like that.
Harold explained the terrible act that had been committed by some...dare I use the word..."dastardly" Bethelite. Someone had evidently filled out his name on the form and now he, Harold Dies, Congregation Servant had his own name--imagine that--on a Dick Dastardly poster! He got out a dictionary and read the definition of "dastardly" to the congregation and followed it up with a mini-service talk about how terrible it is to imply that someone was a fan of someone named Dick Dastardly! He spoke of the need for respect for Jehovah and his Servants. On and on it went. The outrage! The shame!
I was seated in about the middle of the Hall, and as I listened, I could hear sounds a row or two behind me: the unmistakable sound of suppressed laughter, punctuated by the very slight choking sounds made by someone who was on the verge of losing control. As the talk went on, the sounds began spreading. I was terrified that I might be the one who would lose control. If I did, who knows what punishment might be in store for me? I bit my lip and put my head down, as if in silent prayer for the repentance of the beastly cads who would do such a thing.
I could never figure out why a guy like Harold, in charge of something having to do with the Society's finances, would apparently be so dense as to not realize that if he had just thrown the stuff away as soon as he got it, the guy(s) who sent it would never have even known whether or not he got it. But as it was, he maximized their investment. Doubtless few Bethelites in history ever got so much entertainment out of one dollar. Thank you, Harold!
Ah, the good old days...
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Tom Cabeen
Hi Warren,
Have no idea where the Pakes ended up. I lost touch with them when we left Bethel. I heard some news about them several years ago through Jennifer Treece, (a long-time friend and my wife on "All Scripture is Beneficial", a radio show we made during the 70s). Jen and her brother Jim, who was also at Bethel, were from California. I think Jim ran the hand bindery, as I recall. Jen was also a dear friend of Wynne's.
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Tom Cabeen
Quandry,
Thanks so much for your kind words. You write "One of the first posts I ever read on this forum was from a disfellowshipped woman who was told by the congregation that she was responsible for caring for her aged mother after being shunned for so many years her mother was a virtual stranger to her. Her mother had dementia, so there could be no relationship to resume, leaving the woman very bitter, and deservedly so."
I have almost the exact same situation, but I do not share her bitterness. I do have sadness for what we and she missed. But no bitterness. My release came as a result of forgiving her and all the people who wittingly or unwittingly (I can't figure out which) created this horrible situation. I had to forgive in order to move on. That does not mean that they won, if we forgive. We are the ones who win, for we are released from the pain when we forgive. Otherwise, we force ourselves to live the hurt again and again, on and on, like a person who is badly cut in a robbery, and then every day she cuts the wound open again, keeping the memory of the robbery alive and experiencing the pain over and over again. Meanwhile, the robber goes his merry way, spending her hard earned cash easily and never giving her a second thought.
I do not know all the things that motivated my mom to shun me, but I know that she loved me. It was probably harder for her to shun me than it was for me to be shunned. So I have forgiven all, and now I love her without guilt and without pain.
Once again, thanks for caring.
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Tom Cabeen
Hi Cathy,
You may be thinking of Wynne Warren, rather than Wendy. The description you gave of her sounds right. She was then engaged to, and later married, a Bethelite named Warren Pake. She was pretty good friends with my wife and I (Gloria worked in the Computer Department for the last couple of years we were there. Wynne was from the midwest, St Louis if I remember right. Later, they left Bethel and moved out West, maybe Arizona, not sure about that. She was a pistol.
As for the cute guy in typesetting, I have no idea. I don't remember any cute guys at all up there. :-) But did you notice any of the cute guys in the Pressroom?
Smiling as I write this,
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Thanks BS,
But you should know that I don't own any WT literature except a NWT. I don't know what the live forever book is. Better plan on scanning in a page or portion of a page for me.
Thanks,
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sKally,
In that case, thanks so much for sharing! I did enjoy seeing the pictures, but what I found most interesting was looking over Stan Milosevic's library of books written by JWs, including some I knew when I was at Bethel, on the link at the bottom of his home page.
The fact that JWs are publishing their own books tells me that the days of WT exclusivity when it comes to defending their faith are over. The time of "one exclusive channel" is (de facto) giving way to JWs thinking about their own faith and publishing on their own. (I guess the Society has been calling them "publishers" all along, so maybe it was inevitable.) This can only lead to more people thinking about what they believe. Once that happens, it is only a matter of time before they see the logical, historical and scriptural contradictions of the WT belief system. (I know at least three of the authors on Stan's list who are no longer JWs.) I'm betting that Stan hasn't read all the books in his library. If he ever does, we might even see a post from him here on JWD before too long...if we can figure out who he is. Come to think of it, he might even be reading this right now! (Hi Stan! Keep reading! Love to July!)
Thanks again,
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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sKally,
You have made two posts recently. One is about the amount of money spent to make the Toronto Bethel a nice place; the other is about a JW couple who made a tour of JW facilities, and posted pictures of their trip, presumably for other JWs to enjoy.
The fact that the WTS has plenty of money to spend on buildings and equipment is nothing but a reflection of the result of any profitable manufacturing and distribution operation. The WTS is a publishing company. That is what they are all about. The vast majority of their resources are directed toward that end, both at headquarters and among the congregations. And when one is manufacturing any item in the millions, every penny of profit on a million of anything means $10,000 in the door. The WTS manufactures many millions of magazines and books every month, and their profits are much, much more than one cent per item. Thanks to unpaid labor at both the manufacturing and distribution end, their total costs per piece are quite low, and their profits quite high. I saw a Dunn & Bradstreet report several years ago that reported over a billion US dollars in annual revenue for the WTS. I don't have any idea where the numbers came from, but I can believe that they are quite high.
I will comment on what I think that means after I comment on your second post. Stan and July Milosevic made a big "theocratic" trip and posted their pictures for everyone to see. You may think I am crazy, but I see in their actions a love story. They are in love with a concept. They believe what the WTS teaches, that soon God will wipe this world clean and replace it with a new order, and Stan and July want to live there with all their friends. To me, this does not reflect badly on Stan and July at all. They believe, and they are living in harmony with their beliefs. They love the WTS, and they want everyone to know it. I admire them for that. I was much the same way when I was a loyal JW. The goodness, deservedness, appropriateness (or the lack of those things) in the object of their love in no way detracts from the beauty of their love.
Therein lies the great thing about love. An old man may have abused himself most of his life. He may be an alcoholic, lacking in moral strength, a drug user. And yet his children may still love him in spite of all that. The purest and highest form of love does not depend upon the loveableness of its object. Therein lies its strength and beauty. This is one of the fundamental teachings of Christianity.
One day, Stan and July may come to see the WTS differently. They may discover something that convinces them without a shadow of a doubt that the rosy pictures painted in the WT pubs are not as true as they once thought. Then they will have some self-examination to do. They will be faced with a choice about how to handle that truth. They may choose to delude themselves, and go on in the organization, just pretending that they believe, but with bitterness and hurt inside for the rest of their lives. Or they may choose to redirect the love they now have for the WTS to something or someone more deserving of their love and loyalty. They will most likely have to deal with embarrassment, shame, anger, the sense of being betrayed, the sense of lost time, wasted lives. But for now, the love with which they love is, I believe, still genuine and beautiful. It is, in fact, the presence of such love in the world that which reassures me of the presence of a source of such a noble quality, a loving God.
In the last book of CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series, The Last Battle, a false god, Tash, wars against the true god, the Emperor. Near the end of the story, one of Tash's loyal servants meets Aslan, the good lion (the Christ figure). The soldier served Tash faithfully and loyally all his life. Only after he "dies" does he learn that his god was evil. He meets Aslan and thanks him for the privilege of meeting him, but understands that he was on the wrong side. Aslan must view him as an enemy and thus kill him. "No", says Aslan, "I accept all the service you rendered to Tash all your life as if it were done to me, for you did it with a pure heart." (I am paraphrasing from memory, as it has been over a decade since I read this book to my now-grown boys as a bedtime story.) This is how I view Stan and July. I am not the judge, of course, but I would like to think this is how God will judge all who love others with a pure heart. Whoever loves is God's child, for He is both the source and example of such pure, unselfish love. It shines through despite our tendency to be selfish and to hurt ourselves and others.
This same factor is at work in the WTS (and all other human endeavors). There are doubtless a few evil people associated with that organization, as there are with just about any group of any size one could name. But I am sure that many if not most of them are, like Stan and July, involved because they believe the WT message and they believe they are doing good. I know I did. Whether through money, work, meeting attendance, etc, they supporting and contributing to something they believe in, to some extent at least. If they believe that God is associated with that organization, why should they not spend some of their time and money to make "God's place" as nice as possible? There could be many noble reasons to spend some of their profits on decent facilities for their volunteer labor. Turning the situation around, if they have money but don't spend it to make the facilities nice, would that make them more righteous? In other words, I separate the motivations of the members from the truthfulness of the message of the Society. They are two separate issues to me.
Should they spend more to help the poor? Undoubtedly! The WTS is very bad about giving to the poor. They don't even help their own very well. My mother gave everything she had to the WTS for sixty years, and spent a decade in the circuit work with my dad. She gave all her material possessions to the WTS. But she did not get back a penny of assistance or support. When her limited funds finally ran out, the local congregation dumped her in a nursing home and called me, her disowned and disfellowshipped son, to help her. I did so gladly, because she is my mother, and I love her. She has dementia and doesn't even know me, but I still love her and consider it a privilege to help her.
When I left the WTS, I had to deal with the same things others did, hurt, anger, loss. But I had to separate the beautiful things that I see in people from the badness we are capable of. I had to learn to love others in spite of what they do to themselves and others. Forgiving them released me from the hurt, and I was able to move on, grow and love even more deeply.
Blessings,
Tom -
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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IT Support,
No, what I was told happened when that sort of stuff was found is that the contraband material would be confiscated, passed around among the Factory Committee and other overseers above my level. (Nothing like that ever crossed my desk, I know that much.) They would thoroughly review it to make sure it was "really" bad, then they would carefully file it away as "evidence", in case it was ever needed in the future for disciplinary purposes. At least that is what I was told by my friends in Service. Really! (I doubt that they would mislead me about so serious a matter!)
In all seriousness, to my knowledge, that never happened in the Pressroom during the years I was there, (1969-1980) nor did I ever hear about it as any kind of practice. Maybe it happened once or twice. Perhaps that kind of thing was more likely to happen in Service, Writing or the GB offices, where competence wasn't as easy to determine prior to promotion as it was in the "blue collar" departments, who knows?
Another story: One night, after 11PM, I was on my way home from a meeting, and Doc Dixon (whom I knew pretty well) was standing at the 124 Columbia Hts elevator. "Will you please come with me, Tom?" he said. "I need some help." We took the elevator to the third floor, where the Infirmary was, and where old guys were moved to live out their last years. He took me into the men's room. Adelle Ledley (mentioned elsewhere in this thread) who was a nurse, joined us there. She had been on duty that night. One of the old guys (who shall remain nameless) had died and was lying on the floor of a bathroom stall. The doc and I picked him up and carried him to a gurney which Adelle had brought into the hallway. Later, when they cleaned out his room, I heard that they found some girly magazines between his mattress and box springs. I imagine they were also confiscated by the Bethel office. What they did with them after that is anybody's guess.
:-)
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Hey Greg,
About the Bob Lang and Percy Harding stories, there were many similar stories at Bethel that I either heard or was involved with. Over time, they shaped my views of the WTS and what people like me could do to change things. For a long time, I was committed to trying to effect that change.
But when I finally became convinced that WT chronology was a complete fabrication (thank you Carl Olof), their whole theology, ecclesiology and interpretational scheme collapsed before me like a house of cards. I felt like someone who had, through extraordinary efforts, arrived late and managed to catch a train at the platform, got a great seat, sat down and was enjoying the ride, then slowly began to notice that the station names were not quite right, then finally became convinced that I was on the wrong train. When I came to that realization, I just wanted to get off. I wanted no revenge, I just wanted off. I didn't want to waste any more of my life there.
One of the stories I remember clearly involved a very nice young man in the Pressroom named Karl. He came from the Midwest, Michigan as I recall, and his family was very poor (they had no electricity in their house). He was a great guy, hard worker, honest as the day is long. I married Karl and his wife (meaning I conducted the ceremony) and I had great respect for them both. At that time, Bethelites earned vacation days one day at a time. Karl wanted to visit home on a particular week so that he could attend a Circuit Assembly and see his friends. He put in for a vacation and got turned down, so he came to me to see if there was something I could do. (The poor guy was going out to Michigan on the bus, and he needed a few days to get home, then to the assembly.) He was turned down because of a technicality. Follow closely here.
The problem was that by the time he wanted to leave, Karl would only have earned five days of vacation time. But we worked five and a half days per week, so he was one half day short for a full week. When he left, he wouldn't have enough vacation time to be on vacation Saturday morning. But he would earn the half day he needed when the week he was on ended.
Technically, however, he wouldn't earn the day until Saturday noon (at the end of the Bethel work week), so the half day he would then earn would not be usable until the next week. It was such a nitpicking technicality that when he told me about it, I just laughed. I thought he was joking. But when I saw that he was dead serious, I was outraged. I went up to Wheelock's office on the 8th floor and explained the situation. Wheelock lit into me for a long time, telling me how everyone wanted an exception, and rules were rules, etc. etc. etc. I told him that in view of Karl's situation, and his hard work and character, and the fact that he wanted to go when he did because of wanting to attend an assembly, I strongly recommended that they make an exception. It was such a nitpicking technicality, I said. Maybe it was the word "nitpicking". Or maybe it was the expression of disgust on my face. But it only made him more angry. I was in his office for quite a while. Needless to say, I didn't convince him to go to bat for Karl.
But I learned something from that situation about the possibilities of effecting any real change among the people who ran that place. With a heavy heart, I had to return and tell Karl that he had better make other plans.
Tom