Who watches the Watchtower?

I should have identified them the second I got on the train. Three well-dressed white-haired older women sitting at one end of the car is something of an unusual thing during the morning commute. However, it still caught me a bit off-guard when one of them stopped next to me as I sat and started to put the headphones in my ears. It had been a while since ones such as them had been on a train with me.

She asked if I would like something to read and offered me a copy of the Watchtower. I politely declined, and she replied, "Not today then," and wished me a good day.

The funny thing about this incident: Had the item offered simply been left on the seat next to me when I sat down, with no one around, I may very well have picked it up. It's not so much that I'm that intrigued by what the Jehovah's Witnesses have published for its spiritual value; I have over the years collected a number of pieces of religious propaganda (although mostly small leaflets or pamphlets, not magazine-sized items), and this could certainly be considered for inclusion in my collection. While this has been done in a very detached, ironic context (it is fascinating what some have done in what is ostensibly an effort to promote their beliefs), I couldn't bring myself to take something from someone's earnest hand knowing that my reaction was the opposite.

Especially when I was about to press play on the player and hear Peter Murphy sing about Bela Legosi.

It is not my intent to disparage anyone's genuine beliefs, but the way they go about trying to convince those who non-believers (we'll call the audience that) sometimes seems like it was not thought through all that thoroughly.

Perhaps with sufficient faith one doesn't require marketing savvy.