Ruthless (22 page)

A Final Word

There is so much hate in the world that everybody could take a second helping. Nelson Mandela spoke the God's honest truth when he said that holding on to anger is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. I have no interest in adding to the amount of hate and anger in the world. I am simply not going to be part of it.

I once knew of two sisters who did not speak to one another for 20 years. Yet they lived next door to each other. They would be out back, hanging their laundry on the line and looking the other way, never saying a word. I don't view that as a criticism of them so much as it is a criticism of the way people sometimes think. More communication, not less, is the way to move beyond a dispute or upset. True, the shit may hit the fan, but if you keep on talking, you
will
sort it out.

The disconnection policy that the church follows resolves nothing because it stops any communication. “Someone had critical thoughts about us, disconnect from him. Okay, that's handled,” or so goes the logic. That only exacerbates the situation. That only makes it worse for the countless people who are disconnected from their families. Through this policy the church sows seeds of discontent and harvests the results.

Here I am, the father of the leader of the Church of Scientology, and I'm writing a book. What do you think of that? Left to my own devices, all I wanted to do was sell
Exer-Genies
, play my horn, maybe write some more humorous books about the characters I have met, and enjoy life.

In the final analysis, after all that went down with David's ordering people to follow me for a year, telling Dwayne Powell that if I was having a heart attack to let me die, the policy of disconnection that means my daughters and most of their children will not talk to me, and all the rest of it, I will say only this: David, I think you have made mistakes and, from my viewpoint, serious ones.

But what I also want to
say—and
this has nothing to do with my trying to look like a good guy or elicit approval from anyone reading this, but only with my belief that it is the only way for me to move
forward—that
I hope things will change someday. But for now, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart:

David, I forgive you.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank some of the people who have supported me throughout the process of writing this book and telling my story. Their help has made the job a lot easier for me and more informative than it would have been otherwise, and I appreciate them very much.

First and foremost is my wonderful wife, Becky, who has been with me for the past 25 years of my journey and has made all the difference in my life.

To my son Ronnie; Dave Richards, a longtime friend; Detective Nick Pye of the West Allis Police Department; John Peterson of Transformetrics, who introduced me to
The Master Key System;
and especially to my collaborator, Dan Koon, thank you very, very much.

I also want to acknowledge a list of people who gave me their support, their feedback and their advice throughout the process of telling my story. Many of the following supplied me with information, corroborated my own recollections and otherwise helped me share a more complete picture of my son David. These friends and acquaintances include Mike Rinder; Terri and Fernando Gamboa; Marc and Claire Headley; Steve Hall; Gale Irwin; Mark Fisher; Nori Matsamaru; Betsy Stieg; Lisa Marie Presley; my agents, Jane Dystel and Miriam Goderich; and my editor at St. Martin's, Karen Wolny. Thank you, one and all.

Suggested Reading

Some readers may have had their curiosity piqued by my mention in my story of certain authors and their works. Following is a list of books that I think may satisfy that interest, some by L. Ron Hubbard, others by writers who were part of the New Thought movement. The Scientology books by Hubbard are pretty fundamental and don't contain any of the organizational concepts that I feel have made the church so reviled. Any of the following titles can be found online, either for free or at low cost, and contain, in my opinion, some valuable information:

L. Ron Hubbard,
Self Analysis

L. Ron Hubbard,
A New Slant on Life

L. Ron Hubbard,
The Fundamentals of Thought

William Walker Atkinson (writing as Theron Q. Dumont),
How to Heal Oneself and Others: Mental Therapeutics

Charles F. Haanel,
The Master Key System

Prentice Mulford,
The Prentice Mulford Collection

R. H. Jarrett,
It Works