What's good for the Org isn't always good for the public

"If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house

with the conscious design of doing me good,

I should run for my life."

- Henry David Thoreau

If Maria's sister had known this quote, it might have saved her marriage and prevented what may have been her financial ruin.

When I was still on staff at Narconon, Maria's became an FSM (field staff member). It was her job to bring "raw meat" into Narconon or the Org. And if they signed up for services, she received a commission.

Some years later, when I had left Narconon and was staff at the Toronto Org, Maria set her sights on her sister. I don't know much about her, but she was older than Maria, married with kids. Somehow Maria convinced her to become involved in Scientology. The sister's husband wanted her to have nothing to do with it - hence, suppressive.

With her usual aplomb, Maria pushed, and apparently finally persuaded her to leave her suppressive husband. It took time, but eventually she did leave her husband. And when the matrimonial property was divided, she invested in Scientology training and auditing - quite a lot of training and auditing.

(I was never a party to these discussions. I just heard snippets of conversations about it over several months.)

There was a catch, though: her sister was Italian and, unlike Maria, spoke almost no English. Delivering any services to her would be next to impossible.

I felt sick, furious, impotent - and complicit.

There were rumours of a refund, but I don't know if she followed through, and I don't know what became of her.

Like my fellow staff members, I believed that what benefited Scientology benefited all of mankind. And so I never looked too deeply for fear of what I might find.

Shame on me for not having the courage to speak up.