My GB can lick your GB
I was a young man at Bethel about 30 years ago, back in the early 80's when Governing Body members George Gangas and Dan Sydlick were still alive and walked the Bethel halls.
These two Governing body members could not have been more different from each other. Dan Sydlick at the time usually played the voice of God in most of the convention dramas. He was large man and had a big booming voice not unlike James Earl Jones plugged into an amplifier. He had a very self confident, outgoing personality about him. He walked powerfully and spoke with authority, even more so than other GB.
One day he gave a Bethel "New Boys" talk to us first year Bethelites and he mentioned that we all needed to "round out our personalities" because Jehovah doesn't like square things". He said, "look at naaaature, nothing is square in naaaature, this shows God loves smooooothness." Interesting I thought. I went up to him after that talk and getting through the crowd that was around him, I said to him:
Me: Loved the talk Brother Sydlick. But, regarding the square things in nature issue, I can think of something square in nature.
Sydlick: [eyeballs me for a second] Ohhhhhhh? Whaaaat?
Me: [confidently] Sodium Chloride. Table salt. It's a perfect cube. [I smile]
Sydlick: [grabs my tie and pulls me closer to his face] Whaaat's your naame boooy? If you're wronnng, there's a job chaaange in it for you! [playing at being mad]
Crowd: HaHaHaHa.
Me: [smiling, knowing he is playing] My name is [LivingTheDream] sir. And its Sodium Chloride. [now tickled pink with this]
Sydlick: [letting go of me seeing as I am getting the joke that he's pretending to be mad at me] Har, har, har! Gooood one boy! [walks off]
---
Now Brother George Gangas on the other hand was a little, hunched over Yoda-looking man who appeared to be about 200 years old. He was meek and retiring for the most part, except for when he spontaneously wanted to quiz you on random Bible trivia. Many a young Bethelite would be minding his own business and would come within range and then brother Gangas would zero in on him and pounce. I was a recipient of this more than once myself. This is how it would go:
Gangas: You, brother! [pointing, crooked finger, crooked smile, spoken in a slow staccato voice at first] CAN..YOU..TELL..ME..... [pause, then faster] WHAT... are the seven creative days?!?!
Bethelite: What are whaaaa?
Gangas: [spoken in that old Greek mans voice again but a bit more clearly] WHAT... are the seven creative days?!
Bethelite: Oh, ummm, lessee...
Gangas: [staccato voice again, leading him to the answer] ...AND..GOD..SAID..LET..THERE...BE...
Bethelite: LIGHT!
Gangas: [beaming smile] Yes! Next!
Bethelite: Ummm...
And so it would go. After getting through all 7 days, George would smile his Yoda smile and shuffle on. He was a sweet and harmless man, but he loved those questions. He would ask about the 13 covenants, the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles, and so on, always fixated on Bible trivia that was a list of some kind. Some of us got used to this and even made up a Gangas cheat sheet. It was a small card with his most commonly asked questions and we would study it and then when asked, we would pretend to struggle the answers but in the end, just barely remember them, much to his delight. It didn't matter if he asked you the same questions before, he never seemed to remember who he asked what, so it was always totally new to him and he always found joy in it.
I liked both these men as they were real people and did and acted pretty much as they pleased, but in a good way. They seemed completely oblivious to the stodgy, careful and calculated way many senior Bethelites handled themselves and they seemed to have a genuine love of people.
---
So, one day we all had a particularly LONG day. I forget why, but the entire Bethel family was up together for some reason and we were all heading back to our rooms quite late. It so happens that brother Sydlick, brother Gangas, and a few other Bethelites all got onto the same elevator at the same time to go back to the rooms. The doors shut and Brother Gangas turned and looked at one of the Bethelites, never missing an opportunity to pounce:
Gangas: You brother! CAN... YOU... TELL..
Sydlick: [voice booming] CAN IT GEORGE! WE'RE ALL TIIIRED!
Gangas: [looks down sadly, doesn't say another word]
The elevator got quiet and then the door opened, Sydlick strode out and Gangas shuffled after him, a few others got out too. When the doors closed again, those remaining in the elevator all looked at each other and then they all burst into laughter.
LivingTheDream