New Religion Part III

In the late 70's, with my dad at work as an accountant, my mom took us kids to the Kingdom Hall on many Wednesday mornings. Once there, a short talk was given by an elder. After that, my mom headed out with other JW's to go door-to-door preaching the "good news". I (and my siblings) stayed back and played downstairs. I vividly remember one morning being there and looking at the storybook of the Disney movie, "The Aristocats". That's right. We didn't always have to be reading JW literature in the Kingdom Hall (but only really if you were a child). The downstairs had a fireplace, but I don't recall ever seeing it in use.

In an adjacent room down there was a relatively sizable JW library along with a table and chairs. I found out later that this is where many "strayed" Witnesses were counseled and sometimes disfellowshipped. I can't even begin to think of all the pain that people experienced in that small room, but as a child, I had no idea. I do recall one evening my mom pointing out a man who had been disfellowshipped. He regularly attended meetings, but no one was allowed to talk to him. After a certain period of time (if he was a good boy), he most likely was reinstated. I remember thinking that he must have done something pretty bad for the congregation to treat him that way.

One summer, the Witnesses had a get-together at a place called Farmer's Park (it was located about 10 miles from Winona). This is probably gonna shock the shit out of a few of you, but they actually had water balloons there. A bunch of kids (including me) grabbed one and proceeded to try to hit someone, anyone. It didn't matter. We just wanted the simple pleasure of getting somebody wet. There was this one guy who was a regular speaker at our Hall. I wanted to get him wet in the worst way. I got as close to him as I could and threw the balloon. God damn it! He dodged the balloon just as it was about to hit him!

I drowned my sorrow by grabbing a few hot dogs. I wasn't sure where my parents were, so found a picnic table to eat said weiners. I could've sat on either side of the table. One side faced all the Witnesses having fun and playing games, the other, just grass and trees. I chose to face the quietude of nature.

I guess that says a lot about me.