When I was a teenager (14-15 or so) some Barney Fife type elder moved to our congregation which was already a hate-filled place to begin with. As the oldest teen in the congo and the son of a prominent elder, I was a 50 meter target for him and he made it his life's mission to go after me in order to play politics in the body of elders against my dad.
He spent years spreading rumors about me in both our congregation as well as the neighboring congregations even though at the time I was trying my hardest to be a good JW. I lost my best friend and many other friends.
For a long time, I was called into elders meetings literally every Thursday night to get bitched at for stuff I didn't do and for reasons that were never backed up by any hard evidence. I learned too late not to ask for specifics. Saying "Brother so-and-so, just tell me what it was specifically that I did so that I can not do it again" was met with anger and lecturing.
It came to a head one summer Sunday when I was 19 and auxiliary pioneering. My dad got called to a special elders meeting and was nearly waterboarded. He came home and didn't say a word about it. Finally the next day he couldn't hold it in any more and just let it all out while we were at work. I would stop at the Post Office to pick up mail while in service. Apparently that was a mortal sin. I listened to "worldly music" and the grand tin-foil-hat conspiracy theory was that I had 2 collections of music; one that my parents knew of and another that was secret. I had "worldly friends". And the greatest of all, I was up to something but the persecuting elder just didn't know exactly what.
Yes I did stop at the Post Office to pick up mail. I didn't count the time. I was raised to be very meticulous about counting time. It took all of 5 minutes if that but I didn't count it.
Yes I listened to worldly music. 80's hair bands were and are my favorites. My parents knew every tape in my collection. My dad thought Def Leppard's one-armed drummer was very cool. There was no secret collection. Because I removed every "worldly" music tape from my car before going in service with the persecuting elder, that constituted reasonable and articulable suspicion on his part for making the accusation.
The "worldly friends" accusation came from the fact that I got along with nearly everyone in high school. While the JW kids shunned me (thanks to the persecuting elder) I got more invites to parties and everything else from the evil wicked mean and nasty kids in high school than from my fellow JW's. Therefore, I was the one in the wrong.
And the whole "up to something" was pure bovine excrement. This particular jacked up d-bag elder actually went so far as to try and follow me around town. Stupid move on his part as he drove an old van loaded down with carpet cleaning equipment and I drove a rather powerful sedan made when Mopar actually meant something.
That one meeting was the beginning of my exit. The elder who met with my family to "apologize" (if you can call it that) basically said that I had to just suck it up and drive on and that no damage control would be done.
I look back now at all that crap as an NCO and try to learn how not to treat people. I guess I have the JW's to thank for making me a better platoon sergeant.
