Remember Jehovah in the Days of Your Youth

Doug Checketts (aka Farkel)

These words were the title of a Watchtower article I remember reading many years ago. As I recall, the sole purpose of the article was to convince young people to dedicate their younger years to full-time preaching for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

Many people who become Jehovah's Witnesses as adults, and later leave, have at least some "normal" remembrances of a "traditional" childhood. This is not true with kids unfortunate enough to be "born" into the "truth".

Although I have tried to supress it, I do vividly remember the days of my youth. I was pretty much "born" a Witness, and my entire childhood and most of my twenties were spent as one. I am almost 50 now. I would like to share now how I "remember the days of my youth".

In first grade, children were required to stand and say the pledge of allegiance to the flag every day. I had to stand at attention like a soldier, and utter nothing. The children teased me, and asked me why. So did my teacher. I really couldn't explain why, except it was against my religion. I missed a lot of school in first grade because of the hassles over the flag salute.

Worse than the flag salute issue, though, was the national anthem, which is played at every school-sporting event I can recall. Not standing and singing when everyone else does in a large crowd is the worst form of terror for child or adult. I was called a Communist and worse. Kids tried to pick fights with me over it, and worst of all, many of these events were mandatory at my schools. Once again, I missed a lot of school on the days these events were held.

My worst experience, though, was in my senior year in High School. I was part of a travelling assembly, which was to entertain at another school. I played the piano and was the first performer, so I was asked to sit at the piano from the very start of the assembly. I had to sit just below the stage in front, which required me have to face the entire audience (around 2,500 students and teachers).

Suddenly all lights in the auditorium went out and a huge glaring spotlight was pointing to the back of the auditorium on the school honor guard. These students marched with the U.S. flag to the front of the auditorium and within 2 feet of me while the spotlight followed. The entire school was asked to rise and say the pledge of allegiance. This happened with the flag between me and the student body, while a brilliant spotlight showered me and the flag in light. I stood at rigid attention while the rest of the kids had their hands on their hearts and said the pledge. It was one of the most frightful days of my life and one I will never forget.

Every Christmas, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and all other major holidays were scheduled as some "special" field service day, so of course, I had to go. As a young child, I remember many Christmas mornings standing in the snow, knocking on doors, and seeing kids my age around the Christmas tree tearing open presents and screaming with joy, while I stood there in my pathetic little suit, carrying my pathetic little briefcase containing my pathetic little magazines waiting to give my pathetic little speech. It was pathetic.

I never attended major or minor league sporting events as a kid or as an adult, because of the terror I had over the national anthem issue. I was never allowed to participate in school sports athletics, although I set several High School records in track in my gym class. Also, I could not take advantage of the resources offered by the YMCA.

The How I Spent My Summer Vacation stories all school kids had to write were always centered around "vacation pioneering", because that is what I had to do. I could have used the same story 8 consecutive years in a row and the teachers would have been none the wiser.

Nearly 30 Christmas seasons went by without me giving or receiving one single present. The same number of years went by, and I never was sung the Happy Birthday song, nor did I receive a solitary birthday present. I never attended all the birthday parties offered by acquaintances at school, either. I never saw a bag-full of candy on Halloween. Most Halloweens, my parents would turn the lights off, and the TV down, and we would sit silently while the hordes of little children knocked on our doors and shouted trick-or-treat. On other occasions, as part of my "ministerial training", I had to answer the door and explain to all the neighbor kids and their parents that we were Jehovah's Witnesses and didn't celebrate Halloween, and then try to stuff a Watchtower or Awake! covering the subject into their bags.

This Watchtower stuff about "Jehovah's Witnesses don't need holidays to be generous. They do it all year around" is a total bunch of crap. It never happened for me, and it never happened for any of my young Witness friends, either.

Then, at age 27, I realized what I had suffered all through my youth for was a fraudulent LIE.

My youth was gone. And my youth was perverse. All for a LIE. So much of my youth was literally squandered being a slave for a moneymaking RACKET which fraudulently operates in the name of God.

Ah, youth. Yes, I remember it well.