HOW & WHY I BECAME A JW
Part 3: Skiing, Drinking, and the Truth Book:
I was excited about the upcoming trip to Mt. Shasta. It was over 250 miles north of Petaluma, just off Interstate 5 ... a majestic mountain towering just over 14,000 ft, and third in height behind Mt, Rainier in Washington state and Mt. Whitney in California. Shasta stands out in so many directions, and is ideal for skiing. I naturally shared this upcoming trip with Don.
"Please don't blow smoke in my face!" Objected Don, to my use of Marlboro in the office. He listened to my boasting about the big ski trip, drinking into oblivion, and smoking my head off ... yes, I was the worldly kid, obviously controlled by Satan, and I needed to be tamed ... if only Don could get me to smoke outside. But, he was striking back be warning me that the Bible condemns drunkeness, and if I am not careful, I will not like reaping what I sow.
"How is the True believer doing today?" Dave barked out at Don as he busted into the office ... a cigarette dangling from his lips ... Dave then looks over his glasses at me and says that I am a better off smoking then giving into the True Believer crap ... "If you listen to this JW BS you'll be a damn fool in my opinion!" ... Dave never failed to walk in at the right time ... he always seem to know his cue ... and made sure his entrance was noticed. Dave picks up the phone to call an electrical supplier, asking in a loud voice for some manager named Jonesy ... and then ...
"Hey, Jim, come her for a minute, I have something for you." I walked over to Don's office and smiled because Dave was so crusty on the phone ... he was now demanding to speak to the Big Wheel at the supply company ... he wants the biggest wheel ... then Don said, "I thought that you might like some reading material while you are on your Ski trip ... you seem to be very interested in our discussions on the 'Trinity' and the 'Last Days' ... so here are the chapters marked for you." Thanks Don, that is very nice of you ... I look forward to reading the book ... looks interesting.
My brother Joe sees the Little Blue Book: "What is this Bullshit, Jim?" Joe was waving the Truth Book at me ... he saw it on my other books on the coffee table. I lived with Joe and his wife since my mother died in 1966. I explained that Don at work gave it to me to read on the ski trip. My brother scans the book, and says that its printed by the Watchtower Society ... and tells me that they are a scam religion ... and I am wasting my time with this crap. I told him that I had lots of discussions with Don, but not to worry ... but the book looked interesting and I wanted to see what they had to say on the Trinity. My brother gave me that look ... a look like he is really worried that I will get sucked into this if I am not careful.
Booze Heaven: The drive up was uneventful until the charter bus driver realized he drove past Shasta ... how does a man miss a 14,000 foot mountain that sits right in the freeway? But he did. He was turning the bus around on the median ... and being a large bus like a Greyhound bus, it rocked back and forth ... and the sound of bottles clanging and liquid sloshing made us all a little nervous ... at least a 1/3 of the club brought private stashes of booze. But we all pretended we didn't know anything ... I had my own stash I had a guy buy for me ... a 1/5th of Canadian Whiskey. Yum! It got very quiet when a California Highway Patrol pulled the bus over for illegally crossing the median ... the cop got on the bus, and we all feared he might get suspecious of the booze ... but he didn't.
Sliding down the slopes of Shasta: The first night everyone was quiet and there was no drinking I knew about ... so the next day we all enjoyed skiing ... I had gotten good enough that I could take small jumps, and ski the slopes from the big chair lift ... the sight of seeing the valley floor below from the south slope of Shasta is awesome ...
I took to a Jewish girl and her brother. No, she was not going to be a girlfriend ... we just hit it off well ... and that night, I joined them for discussion about Judasim. They sat around the lodge fire and chanted some Jewish prayers ... and you can guess, I brought up Jehovah's Witnessses ... but no one really wanted o carry the discussion ... but instead they changed the subject ... so, I kind of got my first taste of rejection in a way ...
So, what the hell ... I got with some other guys who wanted to drink and smoke pot ... I rejected the pot saying that I didn't want to lose control of my mind ... and then promptly hit the bottle ... and in a short time I was so drunk I was running through the lodge grounds yelling that I am Superman and that I can fly ... the hotel manager and a teacher grebbed me and tossed me into my room ... yelled at me ... and took my booze away ... except what they didn't find in the water closet on the back of the toilet. I flung myself on top of my roommates ... and they drug me top the toilet to barf ... over and over again ...
The hangover was incredible ... and I vowed never to do that again ... and I never got that drunk again ... but I coame close a few more times.
Don and the Truth Book: Needless to say, I never got around to reading the Truth Book on my Ski trip ... but I felt guilty and bad foir getting drunk ... and hypocritical for refusing Pot so righteously, but willing to get drunk. When I got back to work that Monday ... I told Don about the trip ... and how he was right that getting drunk was about the most foolish thing I had ever done ... and commended him for trying to warn me that the Bible is right about reaping what we sow.
I suppose the Guilt and Hurt can make us more vulnerable: I already felt bad about many things in my life, aside from my mother's death, my dad abandoned me ... I had to start over with all new friends ... so the adjustment was difficult ... and now, I was screwing things up by getting drunk ... and so, Don loooked like the better man between the two of us ... the next step toward being a JW was now taken ...
"Hi Jim, would you like to attend Church with us this Sunday?" ... "Jim, I would like to invite you to a Special Public Talk at the Kingdom Hall this Sunday." Yes, two invitations within one afternoon, one from Patty to go to the Baptist Church, and one from Don to go to the Kingdom Hall. Which would you choose? ... Stay tuned for Part 4 ... Church of Kingdom Hall - Which? You will be surprised ...