Star Wars Magic
To the Editors:
No one, save Walt Disney, matches the creativeness of George Lucas [May 23], the originator of the ceaseless wonders of the Star Wars universe. If anything is retained from Lucas' magical movies, it should be the concept that peace and good will always triumph.
Jeff M.P. McFarland
San Francisco
What a dastardly deed you committed, revealing the secret and outcome of the Return of the Jedi before its release! You would make a fine agent for the Empire.
Bill Inman
San Jose, Calif.
Here comes another piece of junk that will be seen by huge numbers and make a vast amount of money.
Henry Baker
Denver
Lucas is a moral visionary who provides a heroic model for young people. That is the real "Force" underlying his work and the reason for its universal appeal.
Robert James Bidinotto
Milford, Mass.
Dealing with the Deficit
We will not begin to reduce the deficit [May 23] until Congress starts to decrease spending in all areas of the budget except defense. Although painful, it must be done if we are to survive and prosper.
Arthur J. Fredericks Jr.
Herndon, Va.
The overriding cause of the economic mess in America today is that our workers do not produce an equivalent or better product for the same amount of money as our foreign competition. When U.S. business can achieve this, prosperity and recovery will occur.
Thomas O. Toone
Higden, Ark.
Joining Uncle Sam
I agree that more young people are enlisting in the armed forces [May 23] because of "a perceived threat to national security." I disagree, however, with Major Robert Pistana's remark that to the new generation of recruits "Viet Nam is ancient history, something the old folks talk about." We have not forgotten Viet Nam. We are using it as a model of what not to do in the future.
(Cadet) Regina Belza, R.O.T.C.
Rider College
Lawrenceville, N.J.
With our high unemployment and escalating education costs, I am amazed that more 18-to 21-year-olds do not join the military and take advantage of the education and monetary benefits. I was a high school dropout with no future when I went into the Marine Corps. Now, twelve years later, I am an attorney.
Frank V. Puglia
Chula Vista, Calif.
Forget Me Not
Your Essay on an American memorial to the Holocaust victims [May 23] speculates on the propriety of a monument to an event that is "utterly European" and "a horror in which Americans had no part." The responsibility for the Holocaust should not be limited to the Nazis and their collaborators. We who knew of the horror and did not stop it are also guilty. Reports of the death camps were smuggled to Allied authorities with the urgent appeal that the rail lines to the camps and the gas chambers be bombed. This request was denied because, it was said, these were not military targets. A Holocaust memorial in Washington is not only appropriate but morally mandatory.
Mark O. Cooper
Orlando, Fla.
The proposed Holocaust memorial raises two questions: 1) Why should Americans erect a monument to those who died as a result of a crime in which the U.S. had no part? and 2) Why not commemorate all victims of genocide? The answer to these questions lies in the realization that the destruction of the Jews was an irrational act that had no political, economic or military justification. The slaughter was the logical outcome of a twisted ideology based on the concept of a master race and was a unique phenomenon in history. All countries should have a Holocaust monument so that people will remember the horrors that a perverted idealism can cause.
Eric Ehrenreich
Hermosa Beach, Calif.
The Holocaust museum will be a reminder that man is capable of acts of evil and cruelty so great that they make a mockery of civilized behavior. It is essential to recall this constantly in the hope that similar tragedies will never happen again.
Claudia F. Shapiro
Waterford, Conn.
Training Doctors
The groups who are recommending changes in medical-school education are missing a vital point [May 23]. Instead of changing the curriculum, institutions should concentrate on admitting students with a liberal arts education. If it becomes known that the schools are as eager to accept well-qualified humanities majors as they are to accept those who have concentrated on science, the medical schools will receive applicants with more diverse backgrounds. Only then will we get better educated and more humane doctors.
John Song
Providence
A good physician must be able to inspire hope as well as be a man or woman of medicine. These abilities are best learned from a strong dose of the liberal arts. Anton Chekhov, a doctor who was also a master of the short story, once said, "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress. When I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other."
Robert C. Hilliard
San Antonio, Texas
The hours in med school are long, and much of the information seems pointless. In addition, ethical, psychological and social issues are neglected in our training. But then, no one asked us to be here.
Julian Orenstein
SUNY/Upstate Medical Center
Syracuse
After three years of pre-med with a consistent 4.0 grade-point average, I abandoned the race for medical school. I knew it was not worth it when I did not have time to play with my dog any more. I have never regretted my decision.
Debbie Interdonato
Brooklyn
Shrinking's Value
Your report on the status of psychotherapy research [May 23] concentrates on only one side of a complex issue. The question "Does psychotherapy work?" cannot be answered scientifically, and it is no wonder that the responses presented in your story showed mixed results. I hope that the parents of an anorectic daughter or a profoundly depressed and suicidal individual do not use your article to fuel their ambivalence and thus fail to seek psychological or psychiatric treatment.
Nathan Hare, Clinical Psychologist
Binghamton, N. Y.
Hurray for Psychologist Bernie Zilbergeld for exposing the fraud called psychotherapy! It is true that decades of research show that there is essentially no benefit to the patients and that professional therapists are no better and no worse than untrained people, such as neighbors or bartenders.
Bernard Rimland, Director
Institute for Child Behavior Research
San Diego
The difference between psychotherapy administered by a psychologist and by a psychiatrist needs to be explained. It is a serious error to say that treatment cannot do much for those suffering from major depression. A psychiatrist well trained in the use of antidepressants and other medications as well as psychotherapy can make great strides in helping to relieve depression and other mental afflictions.
(Mrs.) Oliver David Maggard
Indianapolis
Disobedient Nun
As a Catholic, I am saddened to see the church lose so able an administrator and courageous a nun as Sister Agnes Mary Mansour [May 23]. But by remaining at her post as Michigan's director of social services, she will still be available to the large numbers in that state who need and benefit from her abilities. The requirement of hierarchical obedience should not be allowed to have more force, even within the church, than the goals of human service.
Leslie Ann Budewitz
Billings, Mont.
A nun flouts the moral doctrine of the church about killing a fetus by directing a state agency that administers millions of dollars a year for abortions. She disregards church law and then secedes from ecclesiastical authority by leaving her order. Her superiors blame the departure upon a set of narrow-minded men. St. Teresa of Avila spoke as a good superior should when she condemned pride and self-will. She knew that such actions could only result in heresy, despair and spiritual ruin.
(The Rev.) James McCormick
Garretson, S. Dak.
More power to Sister Agnes Mary Mansour and her very enlightened order of the Sisters of Mercy of the Union. Until the Roman Catholic Church decides it is time to live in the 20th century, its numbers will dwindle and the vocations to the priesthood and convent will continue to plummet.
Mary Grace Lanese
Pennington, N.J.
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