Alternatives to Loving or Leaving

Sir: At some tragic point between Concord's "shot heard 'round the world" and the sounds of clubs crashing down on young bodies in Chicago, Middle Americans [Jan. 5] have turned their stubborn backs on the spirit from which we all came.

It is painful to witness the slow and torturous death of the word why. For when I ask it, too many are too quick to respond: "Love it or leave it." Are there no alternatives?

MARK MILLS Amherst, Mass.

Sir: It is gratifying to know that the news you process is thoughtfully analyzed, for only then could you perceive the depth of the effort put forth by the majority of Americans. You have sustained us for another decade.

WILLIAM M. KELLEHER Wayland, Mass.

Sir: Aaargh! I am choking on Middle American mediocrity. What happened to all those under-25ers of a few years ago? Does growing up mean shutting up?

MARY PAT HABERLE Manhattan

Sir: Middle Americans will love the story, but will be irked as hell by that ply-woody cover interpretation by Giuliani. What a pleasing stroke of genius it would have been had you used their alltime favorite, Norman Rockwell.

TAM DEACHMAN Vancouver, B.C.

God's Status

Sir: God did not produce the muddle in which man finds himself. God did not bring about the wars, the poverty, the diseases, the endless woes that afflict the human race. God did not sponsor the greed, the class division and the racial hatreds that seethe about us like unhealthy geysers. Let us not blame God for the corruption and callousness of public officials, for sickening slums, for thousands of drug addicts, for selfishness and stupidity.

Let us stop debating about whether God is alive or dead [Dec. 26]. This is silly, extraneous and irrelevant. Let us collect our wits and try to make some sort of sensible, orderly world. If we can do that, God will have returned.

NATHAN SHAPIRO Valley Stream, N.Y.

Sir: The title on the front of your magazine would have been more appropriate had it read: "Is God Coming Back in TIME?"

DEBBI DAMON Industry, N.Y.

Sir: I must disagree wholeheartedly with your thesis that God is coming back to life, but I would definitely agree that man is rediscovering his own humanity. For most of the people with whom I work, and for myself, God is an obsolete piece of baggage belonging to man's past. But our humanity most certainly is not.

(THE REV.) A. E. POTTS Knoxville, Tenn.

Sir: TIME reports "the failure of the churches at large to deal with the social and psychological condition of mankind . . . the erosion of the churches' moral authority." This is contradicted by a recent highly significant event.

On Nov. 26, the South African government disclosed that it would not seek a renewal of the $40 million credit reserve provided by eleven foremost American banks for exactly 20 years. This action reveals the first crack in South Africa's arrogant armor of self-righteousness, matched by the banks' haughty self-justification. While neither the government nor the banks are likely to admit the fact publicly, no one with intimate knowledge of this matter doubts that a decisive factor was persistent pressure by Friends of Africans, especially church spokesmen. When moral suasion failed, concrete action--withdrawal of tens of millions of dollars by churches in deposits and investments from the banks--proved effective, a vindication of economic sanctions to implement ethical judgments.

HENRY P. VAN DUSEN Princeton, N.J.

Historians of the '60s

Sir: In your fascinating "Top of the Decade" issue [Dec. 26], you omitted an extremely important part of modern living --the frantic changes in America's vocabulary. The following are three areas of change and some samples: 1) new words: cybernetics, zap, finalize, multimedia; 2) old words rediscovered and popularized: ambience, relevant, charisma, geriatric, black, guru, spectrum, style of life (plus four-letter words formerly heard only in an Army barrack or pool hall); 3) common words with radically changed meanings: trip, pig, square, soul.

(THE REV.) JOHN WARREN STEEN JR. Clayton, N.C.

Sir: How any "Top of the Decade" in Music can ignore the group that fostered an exciting new sound in instrumental pop music--Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass--is beyond my comprehension.

JAMES L. MOORE Instructor of Percussion Instruments Ohio State University Columbus

Sir: At the top of your "Top of the Decade" section in MEDICINE, you note that the Pill was approved for U.S. prescription use as an oral contraceptive in 1960. You fail to mention that in the closing weeks of the decade the British government's committee on safety of drugs urged pillmakers and doctors to stop dispensing 21 of 30 available brands (the British equivalent of a ban).

Perhaps the biggest medical story of the '60s is that Government and organized medicine have proved themselves incapable of assessing new drugs, including drugs that are being given to healthy people.

BARBARA SEAMAN Manhattan

Sir: ENVIRONMENT was deficient in not including any of the decade's magnificent accomplishments in oceanography. The 1970s will be the decade of the oceans.

ODOM FANNING Bethesda, Md.

Walter's Fate

Sir: "Why was Walter born?" is a more appropriate title for your article on the death of the young drug addict [Dec. 26]. This was a most compelling argument for abortion on demand and for extensive dissemination of contraception means. Mrs. Lilly Price should not have had ten children, and society should have encouraged her not to.

While people debate about abstract concepts like the soul of the fetus, the Walter Vandermeers, the Mrs. Prices and society all suffer.

RODNEY L. CRISLIP, M.D. Portland, Ore.

Israeli Dissent

Sir: Ezer Weizman's hawkish adolescent tough talk--"one of the best air forces in the world--sorry, the best" [Dec. 26]--may be good for firing impressionable youth in the defense of their people, but most certainly will not bring an end to the hatred that lies at the root of this stupid Arab-Jewish feud. Israel's doves won't do it either, because they haven't the guts to speak the whole truth. So what happens? Innocent people die, and Mrs. Meir "plain-talks" and Mr. Eban pontificates, blaming the whole world, hoping to imply that Israel has done all it reasonably can and is as innocent as a babe.

Well, it just ain't so. The government's present official position is "No change in the situation until peace is established." Even the stupid will ask: "And when is that?" and the silence is deafening. So is the gunfire.

RABBI HYMAN DOLGIN Jerusalem

UFOs and USAF

Sir: The Air Force announcement that it is "Closing the Blue Book" [Dec. 26] reminds me of the statement by the astronomer royal of Great Britain several months before Sputnik: "Space travel is utter bilge." History records how the learned men of the world proved that stones could not fall from the sky (meteorites) and that man could not fly. So if the Air Force says that it is not in the interest of science to investigate UFOs, it is just carrying out the traditions other "enlightened" minds have established.

DANIEL JOHN SOBIESKI Chicago

Self-Destruct Weapon

Sir: Geophysicist David Stone's "mass destruction" weapon for the Chinese [Dec. 19] makes fascinating reading. But to release the energy of the desired magnitude, the 750 million Chinese would have to jump from 61/2-ft. platforms with stiff knees. The difference in energy release can be quickly demonstrated by jumping one inch with stiff knees, as compared with jumping one inch with bent knees.

I submit that a "resonant ground wave" would not be generated by jumping every 54 minutes because the only weapon derived from the action would be the ear-shattering scream from 750 million badly maimed Chinese.

JOHN H. WORLEY Portland, Ore.

Shopping Spree

Sir: Your article concerning Mrs. Conroy of the Boston supershoppers [Dec. 26] illustrates a major way in which American women and men achieve their basic meaning and expertise in life--by buying, by consuming. This is not just saddening; it's somehow repulsive. Mrs. Conroy should take the hour a day that she spends at Filene's and do something constructive for somebody. We are becoming so involved in consumption that we have lost sight of ourselves, our society and the desire to work for the betterment of both.

KEITH KESSLER Philadelphia

Sir: About Filene's of Boston--it's true! All true! I have flown into Hartford, Conn., from years in Japan, Europe, San Francisco, Los Angeles--to be met by my mother with "We're off to Filene's" --and we are!

Mother wears tennis shoes and brings a pair for me--for better shopping comfort, of course!

FAITH CURRAN Long Beach, Calif.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.