TrueTom Conducts a Fine, Scholarly Discussion and Exchange of Ideas with Persons Who Really Don't Like the People He Hangs Out With

[TrueTomHarley]

That disgusting hag of an anal-retentive old biddy of a Librarian was never my downfall. Without specifically clearing her, one might suppose that she eventually blew her top. In fact, he was always cool with it.

He yelled at me when I was new and I hawked my book one time too many. My first two jibes in return, not necessarily on that same thread, were sharp, and I was somewhat surprised (favorably) that they were allowed to remain. But after that it was all play. I made peace with him privately and asked him what the ground rules were. “I plan to really insult the ugly old librarian,” I said. “Tell me if that gets old or if you don’t want me to do it in the first place.” But he said he rather enjoyed that part.

I was flagged for abuse by someone. I am guilty of it, though perhaps not more so than the foes I battled are on other threads. But I clearly was the aggressor on the thread that was removed, and I was called on it.

Nonetheless, it’s the ideas that interest me, not the people involved. Is it possible to address those same ideas in a venue that is 100% lacking in any rude conduct?

[The Librarian]

haha.....

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

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... good thing Don Rickles didn't read that comedy bit ... he mighta popped a kidney laughing ...

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 ...  too soon?

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[TrueTomHarley]

1 hour ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

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 kidney laughing ...

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 ...  too soon?

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I've never been on the cutting edge of technology. To this day I do not have a smart phone. When I did not even have a cell phone and smart phones were becoming entrenched, I would say:

"**What would Jesus do? I'll tell you what Jesus would do! Jesus would use a phone with a WIRE ATTACHED TO THE WALL!! He would NEVER use a cell phone, and ESPECIALLY one with APPS!!!!" ###&

It is the same with tablets. I was slow to try them. I had grown accustomed to the dog-eared look. My iPad was second hand because Brother Bugatti was trading up.

Use of JW Library at the meetings was first. It's a good thing I adapted. Use of technology in meetings is now second nature; in fact, it is first nature, leaving the paper-only brothers in the position where they must be catered to by the kids, who are ready to help.

Use of JW Library in the field service, however, was absolutely liberating. It has been about a year since I have carried any paper with me at all, except for the cards, which I like a lot. In the 1980's Mack came up with his own card with a little Watchtower outline on it, and, upon my request, made the same for me. It seemed a good idea. Everyone of any significance has a card, and it seemed like we should, too. So I like the card.

Recently, someone showed me their own card they had designed themselves and asked me what I thought of it. Um - uh - well,-  in one way it was better than Mack's because it didn't use the Watchtower insignia, which they don't really like us to do because it implies that we are them. We are not. We work in cooperation with them, we allow ourselves to be directed by them, but we are not them, and we should not carry around a card that implies we are. But Mack's card was not blatant, and besides, nobody cared back then. Even if they had, he was such an innovative and sturdy pioneer that anyone would have cut him slack.

But as to this brother's card (which I didn't like simply on it's own merits; Mack's was little more than a logo, his name, and phone number - you know, like Palidin from 'Have Gun Will Travel; this one had all the Bible questions that you may want answered) I gently tried to break it to him: 'why bother? We have a card now, it links to a website - why make our own as though we are in competition?

Anyway, I like our card. Many who attend our container use it.

[TrueTomHarley]

Driving home, listening to the college station, all the songs and artists are unfamiliar to me. I was intrigued by one, singing lyrics she had written that didn’t quite work, yet she made them work through sheer intensity. Encountering a situation depressing,’ noting it makes a not good ‘impression’ doesn’t quite cut it, so when an artist successfully runs it through anyway, like a stauros through the eye of a needle, you respect her for it.

I would have called the DJs, carrying on as though stoned-out, and asked about it, but I didn’t have their number. I like, as I get older, stepping out of my comfort zone, seeking out persons I might normally not have much in common with. I even have done it here on the WorldMediaForum. Unfortunately, I have also tried to smash their kneecaps, but I have been helped to see the error of my ways. I am a writer, and I sometimes enjoy navigating dangerous shoals just to see if I can get away with it.

But if the brothers want me to ‘step out of my comfort zone,’ by – say, witnessing to swimmers on the beach, I tell them to take a hike. “I’m not even comfortable in my comfort zone,” I tell them.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

A writer who reads his work in public may have OTHER nasty habits.

[TrueTomHarley]

 

[TrueTomHarley]

A brother commented on the pictures during a Watchtower study.

He said they portrayed a brother getting strong counsel from two elders, after which he pondered it, after which he met with one of those elders at the cafe (no hard feelings), after which he was busy in the ministry with the same elder!

But a sister saw it differently.

A brother was asking for spiritual help from two elders (maybe he was a chicken in field service), then he thought over their advice, then one of those elders encouraged him further at the cafe, then he was happily working in the ministry with that elder!

"These pictures are open to many interpretations," the study conductor observed.

His observation emboldened me to offer my take:

Brothers were meeting as a threesome as a gesture to the trinity, then one of them pondered that symbolism, then he met one of those elders at the cafe where they discussed this year's prospects for the eternally dismal Buffalo Bills, then he worked in service with that elder's twin brother, who had flown in the night prior from Boise, Idaho.

After my comment there was a pause.

For several minutes.

[The Librarian]

I like tacos

[JW Insider]

3 hours ago, The Librarian said:

I like tacos

Please start a new thread.

[TrueTomHarley]

"The event is coming up soon, so seats are half-price, which is not such a bargain as you may think, since they were free to begin with," and I hand them a Memorial invitation. 

You can't just say things willy-nilly. You must have a read on your householder and an concordant personality, but if you do, humor is a fine way to break tension.

"Listen, people are busy and I know you'll have things to do, so cancel them."

Inviting folks to the Memorial need not be complicated; in fact, you generally mess it up if you try to make it so.

"At this point, you have a choice. I can leave this instant and I am happy to do so. Or I have a cool video that explains how all this works in about a minute and a half. Or I can explain it myself, which will take two hours."

Most take the first option. Some take the second. incredibly, nobody has taken the third!

[TrueTomHarley]

One kid I handed a Memorial invitation to but then I fudged. “The reason I am fudging,” I told him, “is that you are of the age where you are beginning to branch out and investigate different things but also of the age where your parents may think are still a child under their roof and they want to shield you from things. So I’m not sure if I should speak to you or not. What do you  think?”

Now it was his turn to fudge but he drew no line in the sand, so I said “tell you what. Here is a cool video, it runs a minute and a half, and I want you to give it back the instant if gets boring, and I will go away. Seriously. There is no pressure here.”

I played the video and he paid rapt attention at first, but then he gave it back, somewhat to my surprise. “We cool?” I asked him, and he said we were. As I walked down the sidewalk, I saw his Mom had just pulled in from shopping, which perhaps explains why he had given it back. I told her everything that had gone down, how he had handled talking to a stranger, and I concluded “so he handled himself real well. You should be proud of him.”

The worst you can ever do speaking to Jehovah’s Witnesses is to get stuck with a nut, and that does happen from time to time. But you will never get a liar. You will never get someone trying to do you harm financially or even stealing your identity or casing your house. Even for those who think we are ‘selling religion’ be assured that you cannot buy it on the spot even were we doing that. It is not a religion where you can ‘come down and be saved.’ You cannot become a Witness without completing a study of the Bible with them, seldom lasting less than a year in these parts, thus giving you endless opportunities to change your mind. Surely no one is so timid to run in terror at that. So conversing with Jehovah’s Witnesses is actually a ‘safe haven’ for learning to converse with strangers, and it is a free social service that we provide. If worse comes to worse and you get stuck with a nut, call me and I, who have been nicknamed the Antitypical Nut, will remove him for you.