Late Bloomers

To the Editors:

It is reassuring to see that women, particularly those who are highly accomplished, have not become so obsessed with attaining career goals that they have lost sight of the glory and dignity of motherhood [Feb. 22].

Mary Kacvinsky

Wausau, Wis.

How nice to see mature, stable women having babies. It's about time we stopped feeling pressured by society to give birth when we are slightly more than children ourselves.

Donna Cronk

Waynetown, Ind.

One of my fondest childhood memories is of playing catch with my dad. Your cover story neglected to confront the problems that a child has in dealing with parents who are 30, 40 or even 50 years older than he. Had I been a "baby bloom baby," my memories would probably be of checkers rather than baseball.

Mike Morgan

Wauchula, Fla.

Your article left out one of the most important aspects of after-30 pregnancies. Those cute pink infants will become children. Having had babies when I was 24, 27, 37 and 41, I can tell those blooming ladies that it is hard to enjoy a quiet menopause while being a Brownie leader and handing out ribbons at the track meet. If one more person says, "But they've kept you so young!" I will hit him with a support sock.

Nancy House

Manhattan, Kans.

Repeat Performance

The Essay "El Salvador: It Is Not Viet Nam" [Feb. 22] puts the contrast into perspective superbly. Remembering the past is one thing, but incapacitating foreign policy and national morale because of analogies to Viet Nam is dangerous.

Philip Stout

Kokomo, Ind.

Let's not allow countries in the Western Hemisphere like El Salvador and Honduras to fall under Communist control. Viet Nam or not, the U.S. cannot play the isolationist role when the turmoil is in its own backyard.

Edward Lewis Pfau

Cincinnati

The similarities between Viet Nam and El Salvador far outweigh the differences. The enormous infusion of money; the support given to a corrupt government that, like its opposition, uses atrocities to accomplish its objectives; American advisers attempting to train a ramshackle, ragtag army; and Washington debates about whether or not American ground troops will be needed to win. It's all much too familiar and, more to the point, irritating to the deep national wounds that have barely stopped oozing.

Robert J. Roemer Jr.

Vernon Hills, Ill.

You failed to mention the most basic parallel between El Salvador and Viet Nam. Once again the U.S., the foreigner, is playing God, picking the good and the bad side and intervening in the internal politics of another country we do not know or understand. The analogy with Viet Nam is not that we might win or lose, but that we, a superpower, can so callously use a poor peasant nation as an unwilling surrogate in our struggle with the U.S.S.R. for the title of toughest country on the globe.

Gunnard Landers

Fall Creek, Wis.

One View

Your story "Blurred View from the Embassy" [Feb. 15] refers to a 1976 report regarding me, purportedly based on documents stolen from the U.S. embassy in Tehran at the time of the hostage seizure. These oft-repeated charges against me as sister of the Shah have never been, nor will they ever be, substantiated, because they are false. The information obtained by the CIA on this and other matters relating to events and conditions in Iran at that time was derived from the mullahs and political opponents of my brother, the Shah. The CIA's blind acceptance of these baseless statements apparently moved the Carter Administration to prepare the way for the eventual downfall of the Shah. Thus occurred one of the sorriest blunders in the history of American foreign policy.

Ashraf Pahlavi

Paris

Misidentification

It is ironic that in your article "Hoax Hunt" [March 1], a photograph of me was substituted for one of New York Times Magazine Editor Edward Klein. My true connection with publishing is assisting Valery Chalidze in editing A Chronicle of Human Rights in the U.S.S.R.

Edward Kline

New York City

TIME regrets the error. The photo was provided to TIME by the international picture agency Gamma-Liaison, which identified the subject as Times Editor Edward Klein. TIME had requested a photo of Mr. Klein from the New York Times, which said none was available.

Price of Doubt

Although I disagree with Raymond Franz's theological perspective, I applaud him for questioning human authorities [Feb. 22]. In an age of pastor worshipers, we are destined to repeat Jonestown unless someone stands up and asks "Why?" (The Rev.)

Eddy Keebler

La Crescenta, Calif.

My heart is hardly bleeding for poor put-upon Raymond Franz. Disfellowshiping is to be viewed as discipline intended to make an individual recognize the need to adhere strictly to the Bible for the sake of pleasing God. Whether or not Mr. Franz will be denied any hope of eternal life is in Jehovah God's jurisdiction.

L. Kirk Johnson

Crum Lynne, Pa.

I appreciate the factual approach in the article "Witness Under Prosecution." In connection with my being disfellowshiped from the Jehovah's Witnesses, I am quoted as saying: "There is no life outside the organization." When I said this, I was describing not my own feelings but the viewpoint prevalent among most Witnesses and implicit in the organization's teachings. My understanding from Scripture is that God's Son is, exclusively, "the way and the truth and the life."

As for the pain of disfellowshiping, I feel it, but my sentiments are best expressed in the words of Paul: "So now whom am I trying to please--man, or God? Would you say it is men's approval I am looking for? If I still wanted that, I should not be what I am--a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10).

Raymond V. Franz

Gadsden, Ala.

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