New Challenges

To the Editors:

Your essay on the mood of the people [Jan. 24] captured the fact that we are tired of being tired, sick of being sick. It is indeed possible for a culture to be old, mature and perhaps overrich with experience, and yet still eager to meet and master its new challenges.

Leonard D. Sax Shaker Heights, Ohio

As an unemployed executive residing in the "no place to go but up" Middle Atlantic region, I could easily be dispirited. As a young widower raising five children, I could be further dispirited. However, I've never been more optimistic in my entire life. I feel completely assured that President Jimmy Carter will provide the leadership, motivation and quiet enthusiasm that this nation so desperately needs. My five youngsters are doing just great. Quite soon I expect to be back on top of the heap where I belong.

Robert J. Kiley Yorktown Heights, N. Y.

Your cover story tells us that the mood of the country is "hopeful--sort of." The Americans you talked to all expressed hope that one man can lead us into better times. I hope people do not expect one man to lead us into a brighter future without "We the People."

Daniel Schuh Portland, Ore.

My heart just bleeds for Radio Producer Hamilton Cloud, who at $12,000 a year complains that he cannot afford to get married. I'm 23, a white B.U. graduate who earns less than $9,000 a year as an editorial assistant for a small magazine in Chicago. I am not only married but I am also supporting my husband through medical school. We too are still getting used to the idea that things will never be cheaper than they are now.

Debbie Narrod Chicago

I am not surprised that you find America's mood hopeful--sort of. A few years ago barbecued ribs were all the rage. Then we switched to a bitter diet of crow. Now that the indigestion has all but passed, peanut butter doesn't sound bad.

James E. Loomis Ashtabula, Ohio

Those Georgians

Not since Sherman's march through Georgia has there been such a day as the day those Georgians, named Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, marched through Washington [Jan. 31].

J. Ronald Pierce Savannah, Ga.

In viewing the Inauguration ceremonies, I had a feeling of refreshment, of calmness mixed with exhilaration, of pride that our system of Government can not only endure, but also overcome even the most dolorous of times.

Carmine C. Bonanni Margate, N.J.

Perhaps Jimmy Carter should read history instead of the Bible. As Henry Clay put it in 1818, all religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All separated from government are compatible with liberty. The Inauguration was an insult to secular America.

Madalyn Murray O'Hair American Atheist Center

Austin, Texas

It seems a shame that Inauguration Day isn't a national holiday. I would like to have my children home from school so that they could watch the events on television. Instead, they are home on Columbus Day, Washington's Birthday, Lincoln's Birthday, when the only thing they see is the sales in the department stores. Congress should rethink our entire national holiday setup.

Carolyn M. Ambrose Westbury, N. Y.

Cowards and Traitors?

Jan. 21, a date that will live in infamy, the U.S. was suddenly and deliberately disgraced when President Carter granted a general pardon [Jan. 31] to countless cowards and traitors.

Philip L. Walsh Kingston, R.I.

Seldom do we question the motives of the decorated men who, at the behest of Uncle Sam, participated in the Viet Nam War. Since soldiers are so often accorded the benefit of the doubt, why is the same courtesy so infrequently extended to war resisters? Why do so many of us look upon them with contempt and suspicion, denouncing them for their adamant refusal to obey edicts that countermand what should be the most binding of all edicts: the Sixth Commandment?

Philip A. Singer Florham Park, N.J.

As a member of the armed forces of the U.S. and a veteran of Viet Nam, I support President Carter's pardon of the Viet Nam era draft evaders. I urge Mr. Carter to act swiftly to resolve the status of those ex-servicemen with less-than-honorable discharges and those who, as a matter of conscience, deserted.

Richard J. Conoboy Major, U.S.A.

Columbia, Md.

Latest Abomination

The Episcopal Church's acceptance of homosexuals to the Holy Sacrament of Communion and now as priests [Jan. 24] is too much. The church's apparent desire to "get with it," as evidenced by its other activities in revising the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, has caused much dissatisfaction among its members. Yet the hierarchy continues to press on. This latest abomination is the end. I hereby resign my membership in the Protestant Episcopal Church.

H. Richard Mottram Huntsville, Ala.

I must admit that this is the first time I've ever heard sin being referred to as "an alternative life-style."

(The Rev.) Herbert Lee Merriweather St. Louis

Apparently Ellen Barrett does not know the reason why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lotus Lueddeke Roselle Park, N.J.

Hooray for Bishop Moore! A person who feels that he or she was intended by God to be a priest should become one. That person's sexual preference should make no difference.

Elizabeth Beach Mont rose, N. Y.

Bad Is Good

Black Americans can always tell when a book, play or movie about black people is an accurate or realistic one: it is good when it gets a bad review. Richard Schickel, in reviewing Roots [Jan. 24], finds it incomprehensible that a black American would view all whites as equally responsible for the institution of slavery. But even when New England abolitionists mouthed cliches about the evil of slavery, they would wear cotton clothing, while sitting on furniture handcrafted by slave artisans, eating food cooked by black women. Slavery was an all-pervading fact of American life. All Americans benefited from it. Roots is the most valuable addition to African American literature in the past hundred years.

Kenneth F. Dunn Champaign, Ill.

Your statement that "guilt must be shared by both races" is preposterous. The fact that a few black people worked with the slavers is neither here nor there. While there will always be traitors, it is hardly fair or sensible to insist that the people they betray are guilty by reason of having been mistreated.

(Mrs.) Evelyn Stone Irving, Texas

When I was in elementary school, our class was given an assignment to trace our ancestors to their country of origin. I could not do it. At that time it was hard for me to understand why I was the only student not able to complete the assignment. I commend Alex Haley for his accomplishment and only wish that I could have beaten him to it.

G.M. Goodwin New York City

No Air

The lead sentence in your article "Wooden Priests, Painted Dragons" [Jan. 17] says, "In ancient China, wood was classified as an element, along with air, fire, water and earth." The "five categories" of China are metal, wood, water, fire, earth. Air is not one of the five. Fire, air, water and earth are the four elements of the Greek thinkers. The five categories form an endless cycle: wood giving birth to fire, fire to earth, earth to metal, metal to water, and water to wood again.

Hou-Shun Lieu Commack, N. Y.

Sick, Sick, Sick!

Why, in the name of all that is good and purposeful, is a photo shown of a woman making love (having sex, rather) with a computer [Jan. 17]? The love affair of a woman and a computer can serve only one purpose, and a poor one at that: to create sick minds, desires and thus profits for the entertainment industry. It makes me sick, sick, sick!

Dorothy Goodney Poland, N. Y.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.