How ridiculous is that? It was y'all's money and y'all's time. You should have been able to spend both however you wished, though perhaps short of getting stinking drunk on Georgio Jessio wine reserved for the Moglet's use. In fact, even that wouldn't have warranted too much of hissy fit unless there was hurt involved.
How ridiculous is that? It was y'all's money and y'all's time. You should have been able to spend both however you wished, though perhaps short of getting stinking drunk on Georgio Jessio wine reserved for the Moglet's use. In fact, even that wouldn't have warranted too much of hissy fit unless there was hurt involved.
Good grief.
Yeah.....imo, it takes a simple incident like this to TO ILLUSTRATE THE INSTITUTIONALIZED, CONTROLLING NATURE OF TWI in all its perverted glory. A training location? Un-frikken-believable, isn't it?
Submission is the name of the game. They watch. They monitor. They yell. They control.
Using threats, they establish control.....until the teenager grows up, and leaves. See, that's the thing. It's not based on scripture, nor some sort of spiritual maturity crap......it's authoritarian dogma. The corps coordinators had the same reflexive traits as derr wierwille.
What is really ridiculous.....is that there's STILL a following of this madness.
My first dorm assignment at Emporia was Uncle Harry Hall....and at the time, all-male. And, one of the best-dressed 7th corps men, Steve, was just down the hallway. Nice guy, friendly and impeccably detailed in every way.
One afternoon, while stopping in at my dorm room to get something, I saw Steve walking to his room carrying 6 or 7 laundered shirts from the cleaners. As we met, I commented on his shirts and he told me that his Dad set up an account at the nearby cleaners for him.....ie his Dad "sponsored" this cleaning service for him. So, each week Steve makes a run to the cleaners to drop off and pick up his dress clothes.
After the 7th corps graduation, I never saw him again......not even at the rock of ages, one month later.
PS ......maybe, I should have had an "ice cream sponsor"
You know those wheat berries and oat groats you're supposed to soak overnight so they wont taste like tiny rubber ball bearings the next morning? Someone I know used to forget to soak them. I can't tell you his name. :o
I love hearing these stories from all of you. I was never corps so this is a great topic. Keep posting them!!!!!
Thanks newlife.
I suppose, in many ways.....stories like this sound so juvenile. Why not just head out to the nearest Ben & Jerry's and buy a nice sundae, or share one? Well again, you'd have to put yourself in our shoes to gain a deeper perspective. Money was tight, real tight for some. I strongly suspect some corps anxiously awaited sponsor money to give them the allotted $20 monthly spending allowance. Every dollar was measured.
Plus, lots of corps didn't have a car.....and leaving campus meant hoofing it several blocks there and back. So, like any "institutionalized soul".....the path of least resistance was to simply go without the treat and just subside until the next meal. Such environments erode individual initiative fairly quickly.....not to mention leadership qualities. As I've stated many times, the corps program was the ANTITHESIS of a leadership program.
So, since I had a car and presented the idea of pooling money together for a Saturday ice cream treat.....it satisfied all the criteria for a SMART PLAN OF ACTION. Car?....check. Small expenditure?.....check. Ice cream treat?....check. Fun and laughter?......check, check.
And, like the movie Shawshank Redemption, the inmates utilize cigarettes as a bartering system and devise a smuggling route to access certain items........so, too, our ice cream bowl became a subtle statement of reserved fun that we, and we alone, initiated. Small potatoes, I suppose. But when you're suppressed and "confined"....it's amazing what simple pleasures arouse the senses and frees the mind.
Yes.....NOTHING, in my mind, could have been more blasphemous to God than the corps program.
My corps twig coordinator was Venezuelan, Milagros Flores...meaning miracle flower. She was a wonderful young woman who exemplified all that was good and wholesome, desiring to serve God. She was bubbling with joy and enthusiasm and a smile that would brighten any day. What a lily of the valley! And, THAT is the sad and detrimental reality of the corps training......it was deceptive and stifling in every way.
Some, to this day, have never discerned its deceptiveness.
The *ice cream incident* proved to be an early shot across the bow. I had learned from this incident and came thru unscathed. My discernment was heightened. Sure, I could have left. I had money in the bank and a car in the parking lot. Within two hours, I could have been gone......forever removed from twi. But I stayed. Was I being foolish or was I listening to God? What lie ahead? I was intrigued.
Why had I seen God's power on the WOW field.....and now, sidestepped this authoritarian yell-fest? Was God leading me in....or helping me to lead others out?
Hooliganism such as this works wonders to draw members of a group more tightly to each other in the group making the whole group stronger. But that was not what the powers that be wanted. The more closely together you stuck....the harder to boot one of you out lest the others stick up for him more loudly.
Hooliganism such as this works wonders to draw members of a group more tightly to each other in the group making the whole group stronger. But that was not what the powers that be wanted. The more closely together you stuck....the harder to boot one of you out lest the others stick up for him more loudly.
Not quite sure I understand your point here, krys.
Are you referring to the *ice cream bowl* as hooliganism
....ie disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying or vandalism?
Even the modern usage.....has started to be used to describe people who are dissatisfied
with the status quo and decide to challenge it through highly disruptive and positive
innovative efforts, usually in collaboration with like-minded individuals.
Initially, we never set out to *challenge or disrupt* the corps program. We simply wanted
to enjoy a small sector of time, fun and pleasure.....all by ourselves.
"Sure, I could have left. I had money in the bank and a car in the parking lot. Within two hours, I could have been gone......forever removed from twi. But I stayed. Was I being foolish or was I listening to God? What lie ahead?"
I think this is the part that people don't understand when they say things like "Why didn't you just leave?". You could be making the best decision you ever made or the worst decision you ever made. There was no way to really tell which road to take. And, you had that threat of the uncertainty that lies outside the so-called hedge of protection to be concerned with. Those kind of thoughts are more persuasive than any *gun being held to your head*.
I think this is the part that people don't understand when they say things like "Why didn't you just leave?".
Yes, I'm sure that many don't understand. As I've stated many times before, I believe that every person had a unique experience in twi....different upbringing, culture, pursuits, reasoning, goals, peers, leadership, etc. For me, coming from a farming background and growing up with sports [football, basketball, golf and track], the "discipline training" in the corps program was miniscule. I didn't even need an alarm clock to awaken me at 4:45am....it was already built-in from childhood.
And, the aerobic points?.....no sweat. My senior year in high school, I was on the mile-relay team that broke the school record and it stood for nearly 25 years. So, going out and running around the Emporia track was refreshing.....not grueling. Or, the time the in-residence corps walked a couple of miles [and back].....to a nearby farm on Emporia's outskirts, to participate in a "hunter's safety" course. We shot 10 rounds with the .22 rifle and 2 shots with a 12 gauge shotgun. Once again, [in my mind]....petty and miniscule. You see, I'd grown up pheasant hunting along shooting rabbit and coyote. But I was happy for others who'd grown up in a city and had no knowledge of firearms, much less actually experiencing it. Most were excited to have done it.
But....regarding the corps program, I didn't necessarily view it as *black or white, right or wrong*.....I held the scriptural allegory of likening it to a wheat field, where the wheat and tares [weeds] grow together. And, harvest awaits us all. And, the Lord of the harvest will toss out the tares and even separate the chaff from the wheat. You see, at age 11 on a wheat farm.....I was driving a combine at harvest time. So, if some corps leader was a bully, a slouch, a hypocrite, or worse....then he'd reap the wind of the Lord's harvest.
Although wierwille always tried to paint the canvas of twi=best and others=bad....I refused the premise. The scriptures said otherwise. Nor did I buy into twi's caste system. Just because someone didn't go into the corps didn't make them any less spiritual. But I was in the process of learning more and seeing where it led.
And, here I was in the corps program where the in-docvic-trination was as thick as flies on an August afternoon abandoned watermelon slice. Discernment was my ally.
How awfull but so like them. Getting ticked off over people eating ice cream. When I was taking the advance class a while ago our group leaders who just graduated said they had like 50 bucks a month now? Or maybe it was 40. They said their family bought them gift cards for restaurants because they wanted them to have something good to eat. They couldn't use them of course or they would be breaking the rules.
The lady was nice, very cheerful and loving. Her husband was a bit of a sourpuss but a decent guy.
Accepting a gift, in order to eat, is against the rules. How sick is that? Somebody please remind me why I would ever want to sit around the campfire again and sing Kumbaya with these people.
So very glad, Skyrider, that you brought this kindness into people's life. Ice cream has always been for me the touch of God's happiness.
I am still getting nice laughs from Duck Dynasty. Hope you did have fun with your ice cream.
I wonder if we will have ice cream in heaven. Ice cream is definitely one of the blessings of life in the here and now. I have seriously cut down on my ice cream intake due to cholesterol concerns, definitely looking forward to the heavenly version. :)
Recommended Posts
Watered Garden
How ridiculous is that? It was y'all's money and y'all's time. You should have been able to spend both however you wished, though perhaps short of getting stinking drunk on Georgio Jessio wine reserved for the Moglet's use. In fact, even that wouldn't have warranted too much of hissy fit unless there was hurt involved.
Good grief.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
Yeah.....imo, it takes a simple incident like this to TO ILLUSTRATE THE INSTITUTIONALIZED, CONTROLLING NATURE OF TWI in all its perverted glory. A training location? Un-frikken-believable, isn't it?
Submission is the name of the game. They watch. They monitor. They yell. They control.
Using threats, they establish control.....until the teenager grows up, and leaves. See, that's the thing. It's not based on scripture, nor some sort of spiritual maturity crap......it's authoritarian dogma. The corps coordinators had the same reflexive traits as derr wierwille.
What is really ridiculous.....is that there's STILL a following of this madness.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
Here's another little story. Same timeframe.
My first dorm assignment at Emporia was Uncle Harry Hall....and at the time, all-male. And, one of the best-dressed 7th corps men, Steve, was just down the hallway. Nice guy, friendly and impeccably detailed in every way.
One afternoon, while stopping in at my dorm room to get something, I saw Steve walking to his room carrying 6 or 7 laundered shirts from the cleaners. As we met, I commented on his shirts and he told me that his Dad set up an account at the nearby cleaners for him.....ie his Dad "sponsored" this cleaning service for him. So, each week Steve makes a run to the cleaners to drop off and pick up his dress clothes.
After the 7th corps graduation, I never saw him again......not even at the rock of ages, one month later.
PS ......maybe, I should have had an "ice cream sponsor"
.........and a "Budweiser sponsor" etc. etc.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WordWolf
I'm still trying to figure out what you got in trouble FOR.
You were on your "free" (unstructured, unregulated) time.
You were using your "free" (unstructured, unregulated) portion of your budget.
There was no restriction against eating ice cream.
There was no restriction against buying ice cream.
There was no restriction against sharing ice cream.
There was no restriction against spending time together.
There was no restriction against pooling funds-and that was a REQUIRED part
of programs like wow.
So, every single thing was permitted OR RECOMMENDED by twi.
Yet, someone got in trouble, despite being in full accordance with the rules.
Why?
The only possibility left was: being in trouble because they didn't LIKE what
you did, so the rules suddenly excluded having any fun in any way they
didn't like, whether or not there was a reason to disapprove.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
GeorgeStGeorge
They didn't like being outsmarted.
God forbid they should commend initiative.
Don was my Branch Leader during his interim year. I have no trouble believing that he was involved... :lol:/>
George
Edited by GeorgeStGeorgeLink to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
Well....as noted above, I was not in the meeting when THE CONFRONTATION took place,
but heard the explanation secondhand.
The nearest explanations I could pin down:
1) They didn't approve of our little "insurrection" against established order.
2) We didn't ask for their permission before proceeding with our group.
3) Our "group meeting" was OUTSIDE the established confines of the program.
4) The *ice cream retemories* were evidence of twi-blasphemy.
In other words.....it was a battle of wills, and WE WERE WINNING.
Like any form of institutionalizing.....those in authority claim control. If, and when,
there becomes a system where the detainees are usurping and maintaining their own little
set of rules.....and DISPLAYING it to others.....it must be eliminated.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
newlife
I love hearing these stories from all of you. I was never corps so this is a great topic. Keep posting them!!!!!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
Amazing to think.......that was 35 years ago!
And, Don B. --- RIP
Link to comment
Share on other sites
waysider
You know those wheat berries and oat groats you're supposed to soak overnight so they wont taste like tiny rubber ball bearings the next morning? Someone I know used to forget to soak them. I can't tell you his name. :o
Link to comment
Share on other sites
GeorgeStGeorge
"Ice cream retemories"? THOSE sound interesting. Do you remember any?
Yes. Quite a loss. :(
George
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
Thanks newlife.
I suppose, in many ways.....stories like this sound so juvenile. Why not just head out to the nearest Ben & Jerry's and buy a nice sundae, or share one? Well again, you'd have to put yourself in our shoes to gain a deeper perspective. Money was tight, real tight for some. I strongly suspect some corps anxiously awaited sponsor money to give them the allotted $20 monthly spending allowance. Every dollar was measured.
Plus, lots of corps didn't have a car.....and leaving campus meant hoofing it several blocks there and back. So, like any "institutionalized soul".....the path of least resistance was to simply go without the treat and just subside until the next meal. Such environments erode individual initiative fairly quickly.....not to mention leadership qualities. As I've stated many times, the corps program was the ANTITHESIS of a leadership program.
So, since I had a car and presented the idea of pooling money together for a Saturday ice cream treat.....it satisfied all the criteria for a SMART PLAN OF ACTION. Car?....check. Small expenditure?.....check. Ice cream treat?....check. Fun and laughter?......check, check.
And, like the movie Shawshank Redemption, the inmates utilize cigarettes as a bartering system and devise a smuggling route to access certain items........so, too, our ice cream bowl became a subtle statement of reserved fun that we, and we alone, initiated. Small potatoes, I suppose. But when you're suppressed and "confined"....it's amazing what simple pleasures arouse the senses and frees the mind.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
waysider
Any organization, genuinely concerned with the welfare of its members, would have welcomed and applauded this sort of personal expression.
Did I say "genuinely concerned"?
Oh...pardon me.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
That is what speaks VOLUMES.
More than all the corps teachings, and smug spirituality......experiences like THIS
spoke irrefutably of twi's *command and control* agenda.
That's why the "hard-core wierwille apologists" rarely are the corps grads BECAUSE
they saw behind the scenes, the choking of individuality. Only THOSE ON PAYROLL,
twi or offshoots, will defend the dumb-down debacle.
Sorry, I can't remember any specifically.....but some were nifty.
Most, though, were just a tweaking of a scripture like....."Thy ice cream I found
and did eat; and it was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart."
Stuff like that.
How threatening, eh?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
GeorgeStGeorge
BLASPHEMY!!! ;)
George
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
Yes.....NOTHING, in my mind, could have been more blasphemous to God than the corps program.
My corps twig coordinator was Venezuelan, Milagros Flores...meaning miracle flower. She was a wonderful young woman who exemplified all that was good and wholesome, desiring to serve God. She was bubbling with joy and enthusiasm and a smile that would brighten any day. What a lily of the valley! And, THAT is the sad and detrimental reality of the corps training......it was deceptive and stifling in every way.
Some, to this day, have never discerned its deceptiveness.
The *ice cream incident* proved to be an early shot across the bow. I had learned from this incident and came thru unscathed. My discernment was heightened. Sure, I could have left. I had money in the bank and a car in the parking lot. Within two hours, I could have been gone......forever removed from twi. But I stayed. Was I being foolish or was I listening to God? What lie ahead? I was intrigued.
Why had I seen God's power on the WOW field.....and now, sidestepped this authoritarian yell-fest? Was God leading me in....or helping me to lead others out?
I prayed for God's discernment, constantly.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
krys
Hooliganism such as this works wonders to draw members of a group more tightly to each other in the group making the whole group stronger. But that was not what the powers that be wanted. The more closely together you stuck....the harder to boot one of you out lest the others stick up for him more loudly.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
chockfull
Now if I had that ice cream experience, it would have been a blast for me too !!!!
:biglaugh: 
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
Not quite sure I understand your point here, krys.
Are you referring to the *ice cream bowl* as hooliganism
....ie disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying or vandalism?
Even the modern usage.....has started to be used to describe people who are dissatisfied
with the status quo and decide to challenge it through highly disruptive and positive
innovative efforts, usually in collaboration with like-minded individuals.
Initially, we never set out to *challenge or disrupt* the corps program. We simply wanted
to enjoy a small sector of time, fun and pleasure.....all by ourselves.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
waysider
"Sure, I could have left. I had money in the bank and a car in the parking lot. Within two hours, I could have been gone......forever removed from twi. But I stayed. Was I being foolish or was I listening to God? What lie ahead?"
I think this is the part that people don't understand when they say things like "Why didn't you just leave?". You could be making the best decision you ever made or the worst decision you ever made. There was no way to really tell which road to take. And, you had that threat of the uncertainty that lies outside the so-called hedge of protection to be concerned with. Those kind of thoughts are more persuasive than any *gun being held to your head*.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
I think this is the part that people don't understand when they say things like "Why didn't you just leave?".
Yes, I'm sure that many don't understand. As I've stated many times before, I believe that every person had a unique experience in twi....different upbringing, culture, pursuits, reasoning, goals, peers, leadership, etc. For me, coming from a farming background and growing up with sports [football, basketball, golf and track], the "discipline training" in the corps program was miniscule. I didn't even need an alarm clock to awaken me at 4:45am....it was already built-in from childhood.
And, the aerobic points?.....no sweat. My senior year in high school, I was on the mile-relay team that broke the school record and it stood for nearly 25 years. So, going out and running around the Emporia track was refreshing.....not grueling. Or, the time the in-residence corps walked a couple of miles [and back].....to a nearby farm on Emporia's outskirts, to participate in a "hunter's safety" course. We shot 10 rounds with the .22 rifle and 2 shots with a 12 gauge shotgun. Once again, [in my mind]....petty and miniscule. You see, I'd grown up pheasant hunting along shooting rabbit and coyote. But I was happy for others who'd grown up in a city and had no knowledge of firearms, much less actually experiencing it. Most were excited to have done it.
But....regarding the corps program, I didn't necessarily view it as *black or white, right or wrong*.....I held the scriptural allegory of likening it to a wheat field, where the wheat and tares [weeds] grow together. And, harvest awaits us all. And, the Lord of the harvest will toss out the tares and even separate the chaff from the wheat. You see, at age 11 on a wheat farm.....I was driving a combine at harvest time. So, if some corps leader was a bully, a slouch, a hypocrite, or worse....then he'd reap the wind of the Lord's harvest.
Although wierwille always tried to paint the canvas of twi=best and others=bad....I refused the premise. The scriptures said otherwise. Nor did I buy into twi's caste system. Just because someone didn't go into the corps didn't make them any less spiritual. But I was in the process of learning more and seeing where it led.
And, here I was in the corps program where the in-docvic-trination was as thick as flies on an August afternoon abandoned watermelon slice. Discernment was my ally.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skyrider
And further.....to add to all this, we had raised German Shorthaired Pointers
when I was on the farm. Great dogs for pheasant hunting.
Plus......at 15, I bought a 350 Honda scrambler motorcycle and upgraded, two years later
to a 900cc Kawasaki at the same time that my dad bought another 1200 Harley. I could ride
his Harley anytime that I desired.
SO.....when I had gotten involved in twi, I had ALREADY been around two things that vpw
claimed as "trophy-hobbies:" German Shorthairs and Harleys.
Was THIS some strange twist of fate or a haphazard circumstance?????
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nero
How awfull but so like them. Getting ticked off over people eating ice cream. When I was taking the advance class a while ago our group leaders who just graduated said they had like 50 bucks a month now? Or maybe it was 40. They said their family bought them gift cards for restaurants because they wanted them to have something good to eat. They couldn't use them of course or they would be breaking the rules.
The lady was nice, very cheerful and loving. Her husband was a bit of a sourpuss but a decent guy.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
waysider
Accepting a gift, in order to eat, is against the rules. How sick is that? Somebody please remind me why I would ever want to sit around the campfire again and sing Kumbaya with these people.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kit Sober
So very glad, Skyrider, that you brought this kindness into people's life. Ice cream has always been for me the touch of God's happiness.
I am still getting nice laughs from Duck Dynasty. Hope you did have fun with your ice cream.
I wonder if we will have ice cream in heaven. Ice cream is definitely one of the blessings of life in the here and now. I have seriously cut down on my ice cream intake due to cholesterol concerns, definitely looking forward to the heavenly version. :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.