At one of the last meetings I was at, there was a talk given by a former C.O who was now, along with his wife, living expense free in the apartment attached to our Kingdom Hall. Their expenses were paid for by the congregation because they had left the C.O work and had become Special Pioneers.



This guy (late 50' early 60's) was tall and husky, wore expensive suits, jewelry, drove a new Volkswagen Passat and looked very much the part of a Corporate Exec. or Governing Body member. He was a pretty good speaker, quite dynamic and all the old ladies were giddy with delight whenever he gave one of his patented talks which were given with much authority and were laced with condemnation of the world and everything about it including it's universities and their worldly wisdom.

A day or two later, I was at Costco and there he was, standing behind a cart handing out cheese samples on toothpicks to passers by. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it struck me as ironic to see this man who a few days previously held a congregation full of people spellbound with his seeming credibility as he spoke in condemning tones about the authorities of the wold, there at Costco handing out cheese samples clad in the same plastic apron and white hairnet as the little old ladies on either side of him.

I saw him sort of flinch and look downward when he caught sight of me but to spare his feelings, I pretended not to see him rather than go over and say hello. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for him because of his seeming embarrassment, or to be impressed at his humility. Then I remembered how harshly he spoke of the "learned" people of the world as if he had some actual authority. I thought of all the young people who he might have influenced with such words, to give up opportunities in their lives.

