LETTERS

THE TIME 25

"I'm tired of role models' coming from the sports arena. If our future is in the hands of one man's putt, it is a bleak future." KIENEN MASON Baltimore, Maryland

I applaud your salute to the most influential [THE TIME 25, April 21]. It is important for the young to see those people like professional golfer Tiger Woods live out their dreams. Most important, it shows that even in a world that seems to many to have a dismal future, it is O.K. to dare to dream. All it takes is a valiant heart and dedication. RASHANNA KIRKLAND Decatur, Georgia

Truly influential people are very few and as much as centuries apart. They do not appear in annual batches of 25. WILLIAM R. SHIELDS Richmond, Virginia

Some sublime selections...Tiger Woods, Albright, Thurman, Gates, Carter, Weil, Powell and others make me smile and say, "Score one" (several, actually) for the visionaries, the dreamers and all those brave souls who will make the next century a time of growth and inclusion and, compared with the 20th century, a thing of beauty. KEN TAUB St. James, New York

Last year's list of the most influential people in America was a terrific idea, but your decision to make it an annual, ever changing list is ridiculous. Really, how influential could last year's people have been if they're not in the Top 25 only one year later? It's more like a list of who is "hot." Your magazine doesn't need this kind of gimmick. TOM ZEIT Minneapolis, Minnesota

One category is missing from your list. We are not financial gurus from Wall Street, but we teach our children the value of a dollar. We are not famous athletes, but we play catch or soccer with our youngsters. You won't find us on the best-seller list or in the latest rock video, but we read to our kids every night and sing silly songs with a three-year-old. We are the legions of parents who have the opportunity to influence our children and ultimately the future. TIM SCHONTA Elmhurst, Illinois

America is influenced by people other than those you perceive from your elitist, myopic perch. America is not just black and white anymore; it is also brown. Your failure to name even one Hispanic is unacceptable. JOSE CLAUDIO SALAZAR Houston

I am so out of the loop, I recognized the names of only six of your silly 25 Most Influential. Last year I recognized eight. But I can't remember who they were, and neither does anyone else. JOYCE TRACKSLER Bedford, New Hampshire

I found your Top 25 to be one of the more disturbing recent articles in your magazine. The very idea that there are people in this country who allow their lives to be influenced by the likes of Rosie O'Donnell, Don Imus and Trent Reznor is frightening. ED KULASA Tinley Park, Illinois

Trent Reznor, one of the most influential People of 1997? Yes, indeed. Heaven does exist. KENNETH KAMINSKI Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I was happy to finally see someone who can support Madeleine Albright outright, but I was disappointed that she was not the most influential person of the year. She's changing the world. LAURA HAYDEN Columbia, Illinois

Depicting Dr. Andrew Weil as some sort of primeval figure reflects your total disrespect for the "ordinariness" of his teachings, which are helping many of us add years to our lives. If you can turn Rosie into some type of sexpot with your photo, surely you could show Dr. Weil wearing the business suit that he dons for his PBS broadcasts. TERRY BLOOM San Francisco

After reading your choices, I wanted to throw my issue against the wall. While I think TIME has been one of the most influential magazines in the world since its inception, I wonder how you can compare Tiger Woods with a Mozart, a Jesus or a Gandhi. Woods plays golf, that's it, and comparing him with figures like Einstein, Beethoven or even Bill Gates is a slap in the face to those individuals who have shaped our history or are shaping our future. FRED M. TURBEVILLE III Pensacola, Florida

Let's be realistic. Tiger Woods has won one major golf tournament. I am not ready, as everyone else seems to be, to proclaim him the greatest athlete in the history of man for this accomplishment. Also, the comparison to Jackie Robinson does serious disservice to Robinson on the 50th anniversary of his breaking the color barrier in baseball. For Woods, the doors are already open. What he did last Sunday as a minority player in the lily-white world of golf, however, was truly remarkable. I salute everyone who continues to see Woods' accomplishments beyond the color of his skin. VISH ABEYGUNAWARDENA Toronto

The strongest evidence of the revolution in business and work life is the description of Dilbert as a "working-class hero." Not so long ago, that term would have conjured up images of steelworkers, autoworkers and other blue-collar wage earners--evidence of the strength of industry in the U.S. Now the working-class hero is a white-collar, striped-tie-wearing cubicle dweller. The success of Dilbert is more a reflection of the enormous changes that have taken place in America than an influence toward such change. KEN GIBSON Toronto

CALL TO ARMS

Now Argentina may be forced, because of ever present territorial disputes--most notably with Chile, the country given a green light to pursue arms purchases--to invest in expensive weaponry instead of improving desperately needed social services [WORLD, April 14]. The governments in Latin America are still in the process of democratic consolidation. Although the region has become less militarized, a threat remains. As public school teachers across Argentina demand better pay, the last thing this region needs is an arms race. GAVIN PARRISH Buenos Aires

WHERE SHOULD CHILDREN SLEEP?

Parents ought to read the instinctively wise and warm article "Why Johnny Can't Sleep" [HEALTH, April 14]. Years ago child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim told me that the isolation and separateness in American society were not necessarily healthy. Children who sleep in bed with family members learn important behaviors about getting along with others socially. This idea was greatly reinforced for me while I was director of the Southeast Asian refugee program for children, ages 1 to 6, at the Indochinese Center in Portland, Oregon. Seeing firsthand how much better socially adjusted and emotionally mature these war-torn, Third World children arriving from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were than American children of the same age shocked me. I began a study of Southeast Asian child-rearing practices at the center. What struck me was the constant physical contact that began at birth and included family members sleeping together. These kids were not praised a lot, but they were never left alone. When it came time to begin school, these children, who were socially and emotionally better adjusted, could direct all their energy into learning, and eventually surpassed their American peers. JANET LANE Muralto, Switzerland

The responsibility of parenthood encompasses 24 hours and holds much decision making. Is it fair to lay all the blame on the doctors' side in connection with where children should sleep and at what age? To follow the norm and so-called expert advice blindly is a convenient way to cover up a lack of personal development. Ideally, parents should have educated themselves from a variety of sources, and then open their heart and listen to their intuition. In the end, every individual is responsible for his or her own decisions. Caring for children is the most significant responsibility a human being can have. RENATE SCHAERZ-HEERLEIN Klosters, Switzerland

LIFE ON THE ICY MOON

The possibility of extraterrestrial life on the moons Europa and Triton, discussed in "Life in a Deep Freeze" [SPACE, April 21], seems very likely. Believe me, the prospect of finding it anywhere besides The X-Files is extremely thrilling. But don't you think the $200 million per ship could be put to better use--for example, in Third World countries? FATIMA ANSARI Lahore, Pakistan

Since Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, biologists have been trying to discover the "origin of life" through some sort of natural process occurring on Planet Earth. TIME's latest article on the possibility of life originating on some of the moons in our solar system is another extension of this false hope of finding life by means of a chance process. Your story says "all the moons lacked was the heat needed to get biological chemistry going." Life is much more complex than this. The statement made by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that "we have organic chemicals mixed into a bath of water. That's a recipe for life" is absurd. The idea that a chemical cocktail stimulated by heat will produce biological life is an insult to science and those who work in the various fields of biology. I suggest that intelligent and fully ordered life such as we have on Earth is not the result of mere chance, but the product of an intelligent Creator. PHILIP BENNETT Belfast, Northern Ireland

ELLEN COMES OUT

Thank you for your article on Ellen's coming out [TELEVISION, April 14], with references to stars in I Love Lucy who were forbidden to say pregnant on the air. Times have changed. Now we have to monitor constantly what our children watch on television because of violence, even in cartoons. But Ellen's situation is different: homosexuality is not violence. It hurts no one, and it is real life. TV mirrors society. Society includes everyone. It is unfortunate that people will judge Ellen DeGeneres for her sexual orientation instead of just enjoying her gifted humor. Enjoy your life, Ellen! To the rest of the world: Get over it! SHELLEY R. BEAUBIEN Edmonton, Alberta

Professed homosexuals certainly have the right to choose how they will live and with whom. But they must not demand that we all approve. There is a significant body of evidence indicating that their so-called alternative life-style is in fact a dangerous aberration. Your comment that "Ellen is far from the first TV series to take on a controversial social issue" is also revealing. Any implied parallel between the dramatizing of Lucy's pregnancy and of Ellen's moral deviance is a real slap in the face to motherhood and the family. ROBERT COTTRILL Pambrun, Saskatchewan

IRAN'S ARMED WOMEN

By printing "Mothers Against Mullahs" [WORLD, April 21], you have made a big difference in the lives of many Iranians who are suffering under the existing mullahs' regime. You have also touched the hearts of many Iranians abroad who are counting the days until the overthrow of this bloodthirsty regime. GILDA MARKIEH McMahons Point, Australia

PROFESSIONAL JOB

I take strong exception to the implication in your article on West Publishing's Vance Opperman that the Justice Department's antitrust division under my tenure as Assistant Attorney General, 1993-96, made any decision on the basis of political contributions or as a result of political influence [NATION, April 21]. I was never contacted by the White House about any of the myriad important companies and individuals whom we prosecuted or investigated. I am immensely proud of our record for such prosecutions as Archer Daniels Midland, Microsoft, GE and literally scores of others. Undoubtedly many of those we prosecuted were well connected politically and gave large campaign contributions, but those connections and possible contributions were irrelevant. We did our job professionally, fairly, evenhandedly and based on our best judgment of the law and the facts in each case. ANNE K. BINGAMAN Senior Vice President LCI International McLean, Virginia

WHITHER A WAR MONUMENT?

Krauthammer made clear the need for a World War II memorial in Washington [ESSAY, April 21], but he failed to familiarize himself with the site-selection and design-selection process. The traffic circle he suggested at the foot of the Arlington National Cemetery suggested by him was considered and rejected. The portion of the Washington Mall that includes the Rainbow Pool, the agreed-upon site for the memorial, needs a structure to enhance it. The four panels that reviewed design submissions selected, independently and unanimously, Friedrich St. Florian's design as the most appropriate for the site and for the significance of World War II. FRED F. WOERNER General, U.S.A. (ret.); Chairman The National Battle Monuments Commission Washington

SPOTLIGHT ON THE SWEATSHOP SET

The untimely death of a young camera assistant, Brent Hershman [CINEMA, April 21], is a sad call to support trade unions and their collective bargaining. Those of us who work in the industry are all too familiar with directors and producers who believe that because they give you a job you owe them. The only real incentive for reform is money. Most of us don't want the extra $20 or $40 for a late-meal break; we want to stop and rest for a bit. Producers and directors have a driver or a car service to take them to and from work at the end of a long day. Cameraman Hershman unfortunately could not afford one. JONATHAN C. BROTHERHOOD Nyack, New York

Your story on the long hours put in by film crews quoted a construction coordinator for director James Cameron's movie Titanic protesting that his local laborers were underfed by the film company and had to dig through trash to get something to eat. For the past several months, I have served as a naval consultant for Titanic in Mexico. We worked hard and often for long hours, but no one worked harder than Cameron. Good food and beverages were available 24 hours a day to all employees. I never saw anyone eating out of a trash can, and people rarely slept on the set. There was too much raw excitement and activity. KIT BONNER, Naval Historian Fair Oaks, California

As an assistant director I have had personal experience with the hellish hours endured by Hollywood crews. The irony is, this grueling "sweathouse" mentality is rooted not in corporate greed or the crew's desire for overtime, but rather in the way a film crew acts as a tight-knit community linked by personal relationships and loyalties. Mandating shorter hours will not change this. Only a recognition by producers and crew members alike that those same relationships make us responsible for the safety of our friends and co-workers will. After all, it's just a movie. DAVID G. TROTTI Pacific Palisades, California

E-MAIL RUN AMUCK

I was excited to see your story on runaway E-mail [BUSINESS, April 21] but disappointed that you missed a huge opportunity to expose the daily headache of mainstream America Online users: the avalanche of junk E-mail. Each morning I have to sort through dozens of get-rich-quick pyramid-scheme solicitations and assorted come-ons to find a genuine message from someone I actually know. ALAN OLMSTEAD Eureka, California

Your article was so worthwhile that I scanned it into my computer and E-mailed it to everyone in my company. DAVID G. HOLLINGER Wayside, New Jersey

CLARIFICATION

The chart accompanying our story "Backlash Against HMOs" [NATION, April 14] included a listing for HealthNet. We should have used the full name of the HMO we were referring to. It is Health Net (two separate words) of California.

CORRECTION

Our story about troubles at the fbi [Special Report, April 28] included a photograph of Richard Jewell, who was a suspect in the Olympic Park bombing case before he was cleared. The caption for the photo mistakenly referred to Jewell's "arrest." He was not arrested. TIME regrets the error.