I remember a JW Circuit Servant/Overseer in the 1960's made the following statement:
"If you were an insect with a life span of only one day, and you happened to be born on a rainy day, rain is all you would know. It wouldn't mean that much to you. From Jehovah's perspective, our life spans are that short. He won't let the sign of the end become like rain for that insect."
His point was that things couldn't drag on for decades more because it would defeat the whole purpose of a sign of the end, a warning work, a gathering of a great crowd of survivors, etc. It would be comparable to Noah and his family dying of old age inside the ark before a single drop of rain had fallen.
I know it's fashionable for people on JWN who've observed JW's as outsiders for a relatively short time to state that the leaders and policy makers of this religion can say virtually anything and the rank and file willl follow. I couldn't disagree more.
As Jim Penton observed, JW's are rationalists at heart. Their belief system is predicated on the notion of "Reasonableness." Is it "reasonable" for Jehovah to do this? Is it "reasonable" for Jehovah to do that? Would a loving God do this? Would a loving God do that?
In that regard:
It is not reasonable for a "Sign" to go on for so long that nobody alive remembers what life was like prior to it.
It is not reasonable for a great crowd of survivors to be gathered in the mid 30's when even a 25 year old then would be at least 103 today.
It is not reasonable for people to be marked on the foreheads for survival who will never live to see the event to survive.
It is not reasonable to warn people about an imminent end if the end is not imminent.
It is not reasonable for a loving God to raise false hopes
It is not reasonable for Christians to endure the horrors of a concentration camp on account of their faith, only to grow old and die to await resurrection right along side their captors.
The JW faith is like a paper sack loaded with heavy canned goods. It is being rained on by the JW's own brand of "reason." The fall of 2014 will be just a little more water. And we all know what happens when a paper sack gets wet....