I observed this first hand when I was a temp at Wallkill and Brooklyn back in the 80s and 90s. I thought it was hypocritical but kept my mouth shut. Who was I but a Temp, I am only here 3-4 weeks? .... "Save a Bethelite, Kill a Temp" mentality then. This applied to FS and meetings.
It was also true for MTS (Ministerial Training School). When I attended MTS back in 2002, we were not expected to show up for the Congregation Book Study at our host or closest congregation, especially if we had a big assignment, talk, finals, etc. Hell, how could we, we had 5 or more hours of reading and assignments to complete? Some UltraSpiritual guys made all the meetings and FS. Blech.
During MTS, the TMS and SM in our 3 host congregations were moved to Friday night (often to the chagrin of the locals) so the MTS brothers could attend. (As a side note, my home congo was asked to host a Friday night meeting and the locals turned the MTS coordinators down flat, despite the fact that I and 2 other MTS students were being hosted by local families.) We were not to miss Friday night TMS, because we were held up as "special" and were to encourage the locals. Sometimes we did miss if we could if it was our turn for a talk on Saturday morning class (our Public Speaking class).
At MTS, field service was a joke (even though we had a "Field Service" unit [class]", but we had to get a few hours, because we received enough credit hours as pioneers..... oh, wait, I was the only student of 25 not a regular pioneer, I had come off temporarily... and by god the visiting GB member made sure to mention during graduation that that one student was not pioneering but was starting back in September (this was May)... without asking me first. So I had to make sure I hit national average at least (padded my hours). And yes, I started pioneering that September and it nearly killed me.
I think it was then, during MTS, that I seen how shallow the whole Organization was. It only took me another 5.5 years to quit FS and another 6 months to quit attending. Ironically, I transferred my publisher card to the congo that I attended during MTS 5 years earlier. Huge congo, easy to get lost in.
I look back and think ... what a joke it all was. What a Waste of Time. I don't come to JWD nearly as often as I used to, and post even less on JW type topics, but this one hit close to home. But I do not waste my time with regrets now. Now I celebrate the time I have with my new family.
Snakes (Rich )