@TonusOH:
You are correct, the UN declared 1986 "The International Year of Peace." Interestingly, the first US-USSR summit between Reagan and Gorbachev were in Reykjavík, Iceland, in October 1986. So this really pushed the hype even further, as October has always had special prominence in JW past lore.
@LongHairGal:
I was very young in 1984; 5! But I can still see and remember these issues of the WT literature as clear as a bell in my mind. (though my nearly total recall photographic memory helps, I can even smell memories at times)
I too often wonder what people back then would think about today. For reference, I'm now 44. My entire JW family that I grew up with? Dead. ALL of them. All of the older ones my parents studied with and adored? That cared for me? Dead. ALL of them. They were kinda elderly then. Add to that, that 9 out of 10 JW youth that were my age have LEFT, never to return and you've got a weird vibe now. Only the most die-hard homeschooled children of Elders & Sister Piosneer Elderette's are the only ones that stayed. Anyone desiring a normal life or just plain fed-up with the hypocrisy, lies, false hope, and two-faced congregation BS, up and left - never to return!
It's a real shit show now....unrecognizable as the religion I was born and raised in. Always was kinda a cult, but now it's like they're not even really trying to hide it, it's an open secret. And any "worldly" person who MIGHT be interested, soon loses interest after a 5 minute Google search.
It's so bizarre to look back now after this much passing of time. Like, I pity my poor dead parents for not having the resources at their fingertips we all have now. I'd have been spared this BS and had a chance at a normal childhood and education.
