Page 10 - Failed Experiment

A Failed Experiment

During the Feast of Tabernacles, the kitchen in the Big Sandy Field
House is frenetic. A 1-W is sent back to mop the floor. He mops it but
it is walked on by kitchen personnel while it is still wet, leaving dirty
water everywhere to dry to a film. There is no time to let the floor dry
properly. His boss walks into the kitchen and without inquiring into
the circumstances, decides to fire the 1-W. This very likely will result
in the 1-W going to prison. (Typically, Draft Boards take such firings
as an indication of insincerity of belief. The threat of prison was a
principle means of oppressing the men in the 1-W program at AC.) The
boss knows the cruel outcome but it is only through the earnest entreaty
of a regular employee that the 1-W is spared. I witnessed this. This
during that joyful time called the Feast of Tabernacles when all are
supposed to be thinking about the “Wonderful World Tomorrow”, a
time of the flourishing of love.

A young man, a friend of mine, who had been a 1-W, became
somewhat disaffected with the WCG after leaving the program. He
was killed in an automobile accident shortly after finishing the 1-W
program. Some people from his church area who knew his parents well
brought him up in a discussion one evening. I told them of the kind of
treatment he received on the 1-W program. They responded with shock
and surprise and assured me that his parents knew nothing of this
treatment. It was typical for 1-Ws to attempt to relate their treatment
to people in local churches and discover that they were not believed
and condemned for having a “bad attitude.” Consequently, many 1-Ws
did not discuss their working conditions with lay members.

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