Awake!, August 8, 1961
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What Do People Say About Life After Death?
Indian Key to Successful Marriage
So You Want to Become a Nurse?
Why Drown?
AUGUST 8, 1961
THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital fiRief T>f our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. "Awake!" has no fetters. It recognises facts, faces facts, Is free to publish facts, ft is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; it Is unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden on; it is unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.
"Awake!" uses the regular news channels, but is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, in scores of nations. Fr^im the four corners of the eorth their uncensored, on-the-scenes reports come to you through these columns. This journal's viewpoint is not narrow, but is international. It is read in many nations, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its coverage Is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens.
"Awake!” pledges itself ta righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for oil, to comforting mourners ond strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of a righteous New World.
Get acquainted with "Awake!" Keep awake by reading "Awake!"
IM 1|« St I I
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CONTENTS
Is Unqualified Obedience Morally Right? 3 What Do People Say About Life
After Death?
Population Increase
Indian Key to Successful Marriage
Electrician versus Theologian
So You Want to Become a Nurse?
Why Drown?
"Let Marriage Be Honorable”
Why Is Chocolate so Deliciously More-ish?
Faith Cures
Sunburn and How It Affects You
Watch and Pray
“Your Word Is Truth”
How Long Did Methuselah Live?
Watching the World
MORALLY RIGHT?
By “AwakeT* correspondent in Sweden
IN CONNECTION with the Eichmann process at Jerusalem, the old question of the individual’s obligation to obey orders from government authorities has come up for discussion in many places. In the Stockholm Dagens Nyheter some interesting articles have dealt with the danger of unqualified obedience when it is a matter of performing acts that conflict with reason and morals. The meaning of the words “loyalty” and “treason” was thoroughly searched and debated, but it was impossible to attain to any really clear position, which is understandable because the problem cannot be fully judged without the aid of the highest existing authority in questions like these, that is, God’s Word.
The daily’s editor, Olof Lagercrantz, wrote that conflicts of conscience are “a chapter of serious concern.” “Our ability to survey things is small, our knowledge of the motives and inducements of the opponent are insufficient and the searchlight of our understanding is easily misled.” He deplored that even in the democracies the demand for loyalty and the accusation of treason are nowadays instruments of terror that are used in order to make differing ideas suspect.
“That society does not hold any unqualified right to demand our obedience is hardly disputed by anyone,” wrote Professor Anders Wedberg. If a law is made that I know is going to cause harm, is it not my duty to refuse to obey it? This thesis was especially timely in the days of Hitler's rule, but is so still. Law obedience is not of unqualified virtue in all circumstances.
According to Swedish law and the law in other lands, certain acts, which in themselves are against the law, do not become lawbreaking if they are committed because of so-called collisions of interests, as, for instance, qualified self-defense and certain measures taken in cases of emergency. Thereby it is acknowledged that situations may arise where otherwise valid laws cannot be applied, because that would mean a violation of justice.
During the great case at court in Nuremberg in 1945, the rule was laid down that offenses against humanitarian precepts could not be justified by reference to existing orders from a higher authority, a principle that probably would be recognized by all civilized nations. So there are, it is admitted, factors in life that are of greater judicial power than governmental authority.
One writer in the Dagens Nyheter series, Harald Ofstad by name, reminded his readers how Hitler’s soldiers in his day had to take the following oath: “I swear by God this holy oath, that I am to be un-qualifyingly obedient to Adolf Hitler, the Fuehrer of the German people.” But who would take such an oath today? In the present Western Germany the law expressly says that an order must not be followed if it involves committing a crime. But who decides where the borderline goes? Here the correct answer may be given only by a dedicated Christian, as he has learned to “obey God as ruler rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) The rest of the people do not always know which standard they are to be governed by. If the higher authority is infallible, then I must, of course, obey it, they say. But cannot the authority also be misled, be on the wrong track? Is it my duty, then, to decide for myself how far I must go? Here they are getting into what is called serious conflicts of conscience. What was fully legal, commendable, loyal and patriotic in Germany in 1940 may today be judged as treason, madness and a crime against both God and men.
It has often happened that persons in •authority have advised citizens who have declared that they hold an opinion that differs from the common one, in the matter of military service for example, that “if is better to do as the government decrees,” that “to obey the authorities is the wise course,” to let them carry the responsibility before God. But people are now beginning to see how illogical such reasoning is. Suppose that the early Christians in ancient Rome had followed that line of conduct. We learn that their uncompromising stand in matters of faith became a stone of stumbling to the heathens, who reckoned that the Christians were dissolving "the ties which customland upbringing had made sacred, they were accused of insulting the religious opinions of their country and of haughtily despising that which their fathers had believed to be true and had venerated as sacred,” says Edward Gibbon. Ought not the Christians, for the sake of peace, rather have submitted to the opinions of the heathens? Impossible. At the risk of being stamped as atheists and being sentenced to secular authority’s heaviest penalty they had to stick to their conviction and worship.
Harald Ofstad stresses that it was through the rise of national states that faithfulness toward the nation became domineering. Broadminded persons, however, have always seen that the national state is not the highest authority, even if it has the power to send the doubting ones to prison. It is very interesting to note that more and more people are beginning to see that the "loyalty hysteria,” as Ofstad calls it, which was earlier commonly connected with the church and now is expressing itself in the sphere of nationality, is a spiritual malady. When a person begins to see toward whom he is really obligated for his life and who it is that has promised a righteous new world, where Christ will be the King, then he also appreciates whose word and laws he is dutybound to obey in the first place. The just demands and laws of this One, that is, Jehovah God, are not altered from time to time, as is the case in national governments, but are eternally unchangeable. It is right and it pays to obey and follow them.—Ex. 20:5; 2 Pet. 3:13.
What Do People Say, About
After
DEATH?
WHEN Professor J, B. Rhine, authority on telepathy, clairvoyance and extrasensory perception and director of the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, was asked about the possibility of life after death, he said that thirty-five years of research had failed to produce scientific proof of life after death.
It is obvious that our present physical bodies do not survive, but does this mean that at death the life of man is snuffed out like a candle flame? Does man know?
When Selman A. Waksman, Nobel prize winner for his part in the discovery of streptomycin, discussed the subject of life after death from the viewpoint of a biologist, without considering the religious and supernatural beliefs, he said: “We must conclude that life, at least in a material sense, ceases with death, . , . This leaves us with the possibility that ‘life’ after death, in the immaterial form of a soul or spirit, might provide immortality after the cessation of life. All attempts, however, to prove the existence of such spiritual entities by the methods of science have been universally unsuccessful. ■ . . There seems to be no necessary scientific reason to believe in life after death. . . . Therefore, we
I'-’u, y till,
of life and death,
that any belief in life after
death is in disagreement with all the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of modern biology.”
While such conclusions may satisfy the materialist and annihilationists, they by no means satisfy all people. In fact, the vast majority of the human race insists that life after death is a reality. As for scientific views and discoveries, H. C. Haydn in his book Death and Beyond says: “I hold it to be clear beyond a peradventure, that so far as Science has, to this day, gone, there is no evidence that Death ends all.”
If men find a “ death-ends-ah" theory unacceptable, in fact, unthinkable, what reasons do they give for believing that life goes on after death? Harold C. DeWindt, pastor of Kirk in the Hills at Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in an Easter message gave three distinct reasons why he believed in life after death. First, he says: “Our instinct tells us there is life after death. It is the most universal conviction of the human race. Psychologists say it is even more widespread than our belief in God.” ‘For every instinct,’ DeWindt argues, ‘there is a satisfaction; for thirst, there is water; for hunger, there is food. Would God put into our hearts the feeling of life after death Heve that our souls survive after death because we cannot help believing it,” he asserts. "We yearn for a life that will never end, and our yearning for it is our first assurance of it.”
must conclude from our stated definitions and then mislead us?’ he asks. “We be-
Secondly, DeWindt says: “Our reason, too, tells us that life is eternal. Is it sensible,” he asks, "that a tree should outlast the man who plants it? That pavements should endure but pedestrians perish? That a song like the Hallelujah Chorus be immortal but not its composer? . . . The greatest thinkers believed in immortality, because if there were no other world than this, then life would be a stupid joke. Without immortality, the whole drama of life is a farce. ... It seems unreasonable that God would leave us in the grave. It may seem hard sometimes to make our minds believe in the life beyond, but it is infinitely harder not to believe in it.”
“Finally,” DeWindt says, “we believe that man shall live again because of the greatest book ever written and the greatest life ever lived. . . . For the final word about life beyond the grave, you go to the one book that has stood every test through two thousand years. That book declares that 'this mortal shall put on immortality and death shall be swallowed up in victory.’ The Bible leaves no room for doubt. Nor does Jesus Christ.”
Other Reasons Given
To Dr. DeWindt’s arguments might be added the thoughts of Dr. Robert J. McCracken of the Riverside Church in New York city. He says that great thinkers from generation to generation have believed in life after death because of logic. These men, he declares, "refused to concede that at death [life] can be extinguished.” "It is a persuasion rooted in the faith that there is righteousness as well as reason at the heart of things, that the constitution of the universe is against evil.” Love, McCracken added, is still another reason why Christians believe in a life beyond death.
Add to this Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s convictions. He said that his deceased mother appeared to him and convinced him that “there is no death.” tip to that time Peale confesses that he had taken a rigorously scientific, rational, skeptical attitude toward psychic phenomena in general "But now,” he says, “I felt an unshakable certainty that this was real. Of course I can’t prove it scientifically. But we all constantly accept as certain many things in life we can’t prove, and yet would stake our lives on. For me, this is one of them. I don’t think I believe it merely because I want to believe it; that has never been my way. But—what you experience at first hand, and in full possession of your senses, you know, period.” He states that his “hard-bitten, philosophical”-minded father had the same experience.
Dr. Peale argues: “We do not believe in immortality because we can prove it, but we try to prove it because we cannot help believing it Indeed, the instinctive feeling that it is true is one'of the deepest proofs that it is so. When God wishes to carry a point with men he plants the idea in their instincts. The longing for immortality is of such universality that it can hardly be met with indifference by the universe. What we deeply long for, what we deeply feel, must surely reflect a basic fact of human existence. Such great truths as this are not believed because of proof and demonstration, but by faith and intuition. Intuition is an important factor in the scientific perception of truth. As Bergson pointed out, scientists often come to the end of verifiable knowledge, then, by a leap of intuition, arrive at truth.”
Some men think that talk about future life is wishful thinking. But Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, minister of the City Temple and former president of the Methodist Conference, asks: “What in heaven’s name is wrong with wishful thinking? Because I wish that my dear one should recover from some terrible illness, does my wishing preclude the recovery? . . . The fact that I wish to be reunited with my dead dear ones doesn’t preclude the reality. If God is what I think He is, the reality of a further life will be far fairer than the dream. ... I have not the slightest doubt, in my own mind, that for those who love, reunion after death is certain.’’
Real Reason for Believing
Combine the total opinions of all men, whether they be ministers or laymen, educated or uneducated, and what do you have? You still have the thoughts of men, which is a very poor basis for building true Christian faith and hope. But if an angel from God were to speak to us about death and life, it is only good sense that he would tell us some things that we could not have found out for ourselves. Jesus Christ was a messenger from God. To the Jews Jesus said: “From God I came forth and am here. Neither have I come of my own initiative at all, but that One sent me forth.” “I do nothing of my own initiative, but just as the Father taught me I speak these things.”—John 8:42, 28.
Therefore, Jesus Christ stands above all men. He is different. He speaks with authority and conviction as no other man has ever spoken. It is impressive that he does not argue life in another world immediately after death. He does not argue for what does not take place. He speaks, not by argument, but convincingly that life everlasting in the future is not for all men, and that a future life for some is, not through any survival of a so-called “immortal soul” into another world, but by a resurrection of the dead by the power of the living God. —Matt. 7:28, 29; John 7:46.
Jesus is positive. He is sure of life. He does not say to his followers: ‘My faith is that we will meet again.’ Or, ‘I hope we will meet in the future.’ Or, ‘There is a fifty-fifty chance that we will meet again.' No! To the evildoer staked alongside him, Jesus said: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” He leaves no room for doubt. His words command respect and faith. They are a guarantee that it will be so. To Martha Jesus said: “Your brother will rise.” “I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life, and everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all.” To the Jews Jesus said: “Most truly I say to you, He that hears iny word and believes him that sent me has everlasting life, and he does not come into judgment but has passed over from death to life. Most truly I say to you, The hour is coming, and it is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who have given heed will live.” Jesus allows no room for men to doubt that the dead will rise again.—Luke 23:43; John 11:23-26; 5:24, 25.
Now, if Jesus had not been sure of life by resurrection out of death, then it would have been a terribly dishonest thing to speak so positively of it. But since he was sure about a matter so much within his realm of knowledge and authority, it would be presumptuous on our part not to believe him. For by our disbelief we would be saying that we know more than he does about a matter on which he is expert. To deny the Master Teacher’s teaching is like telling him that he does not know what he is talking about. The proof of the truthfulness of Jesus’ words is in his resurrection, when God raised him from the dead. What men need to do is to fix these truths firmly in their hearts.—Acts 2:32; 1 Cor. 15:3-8.
Life by a Resurrection
The dead very positively will live again. This fact is as sure as the universe. (Matt. 24:35) However, not all who now die will live again. Only those who believe God and exercise faith in the Son as the Redeemer and give heed to the commandments of God will live. It would be infinitely dangerous for any lighthearted person to twist the words of Jesus to mean that it does not matter how one lives now because everyone will gain life. Not so. Jesus very frankly says: “He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life; he that disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.” What could be plainer than these words?—John 3:36.
Life in the future does not come automatically through the release of a so-called “immortal soul” or by means of a reincarnation. Jesus emphatically taught that the dead will come to life by means of a resurrection. He told people: "The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” His apostle Paul years later told Governor Felix: “I have hope toward God . . . that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” Therefore, a special commission of forty-three Protestant theologians after intensive study during five years have rightly concluded that the Bible teaches "that the Christian hope is in resurrection, a being raised from the dead, rather than in a natural immortality.”—John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15.
This commission in its report published in a 126-page booklet entitled “Life and Death—A Study of the Christian Hope” stated: "It is a mistake to say, ‘there is no death,’ for that is a lie. The Christian faith does not try to play down the reality of death but, on the contrary, it insists that when a man dies he really dies. Deathlessness is not a quality of the human soul any more than it is a quality of the human body. Indeed, this division of man’s being into an immortal soul and a mortal body does not come from the Bible and actually clashes with the Christian teaching that life beyond death is a work of God’s grace, not a natural unfolding of man’s constitution, and that the Christian hope is in resurrection. ... As we have said, the idea that man consists of two separable parts, soul and body, does not come from the Bible; it comes from the Greek philosophers.” Christians cannot and do not accept the popular Platonic view that death is “the separation of soul and body.” Rather, they stand solidly by God’s Word, which teaches that the hope of the dead is in God’s power to resurrect them.—Col. 2:8.
Yes, God’s Word tells us that life for the dead who lie in memorial tombs and for the living who exercise faith is sure by God’s love. Therefore, anointed Christians can mock death as the apostle did: “Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” “Thanks to God, for he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”—1 Cor. 15:55, 57; John 3:16.
PDPU LATION I N C REAS E
“Most of the ethnic groups in the world have birth rates which would result in fourfold to sevenfold increases if their death rates were reduced substantially. . . . Such a sevenfold rate, had it existed, could have produced our present world population from an Adam and Eve created less than 800 years ago.”—The Saturday Evening Post of August 6, 1960.
HE expectant crowd in the street of the small Indian town waits with keen anticipation. Veena knows why as this is her home, but for
Ruth everything is new and strange,
so unlike the which she has talk.
Ruth: Why, bridegroom for
Western world from
come. Listen
you cannot flowers! His
as they
see the face is
covered by them! And do you really mean it when you say that his bride has never seen him at all?
Veena: Yes, really I do, but I can well imagine how strange this must seem to you. For us in India things have always been this way. Look again! Do you see the little boy riding behind
the bridegroom? He is probably his younger brother, and the others in the wedding procession are his relatives and friends who are going with him as his guests to the bride’s home for the wedding ceremony. Do you like the music the band is playing? I am so glad we came along!
Ruth: Yes, so am I, but I cannot help thinking about the bride. I wonder what her feelings are, marrying a man she has never seen before? The very thought frightens me!
inDijin
KEY
She has probably seen a picture of her husband-to-be, but, in any event, from the day her parents arranged for her to get married,
she has been thinking of him continually.
Ruth: I can imagine that! As a matter of fact this all brings back to my mind the Bible riage of Isaac. This the direction of his
account of the mar-was arranged under father, Abraham, to
Rebekah, a woman whom he had never
Veena: Well, of course, she will have mixed feelings, but you must bear in mind that in India we grow up prepared for our parents to make a choice of marriage partner for us. In fact, I wouldn’t trust my own choice in the matter as my parents are much wiser than I am. I know they will choose what is best for me. You can be sure that this bride’s chief fear will lie in the fact that she no longer belongs to her parents after her marriage. She must then learn to please her husband’s family, but in all this she is confident that her parents have made the right choice for her. seen, and I remember that the account says that it was after his marriage that he fell in love with her.
Veena: Maybe that will help you to appreciate our customs. For us, love comes after marriage and grows and increases as the years go by. Can you begin to imagine now how this bride feels? She dreams how her husband will be kind and gentle to her, how she can show by her talk and actions her submissiveness to him, how she will dress her best for him with all her jewelry and lovely saris. Her mouth waters as she plans the spicy curries and rich sweet dishes that she will cook for him. Will her husband take her part if difficulties arise with his family with whom they will be living? How will he speak to her? Whatever happens, she will want her husband to be proud of her. So many thoughts crowd into her mind!'
Ruth: Tell me, Veena, will she see him now before the ceremony at all?
Veena: It is usual, first of all, for him to meet her family and friends who have already gathered and have been' visiting with one another. The bride herself is in an anteroom being dressed by her girl friends and female relatives. When the preliminaries, the religious rites, with the parents are over, she is brought out and sits with him on a small platform in view of all. At this time, the bride and bridegroom may exchange garlands of flowers and the bride’s sister or nearest female cousin ties the girl’s veil to the boy’s chuddar, a type of scarf that the boy wears over his shoulder. Even now, however, it is usual for the bride to bow her head in a submissive way, so, except out of the comer of her eye, she sees very little, and in some provinces of India both of their faces would still be covered at this point. As you know, India is a country made up of many people, and whatsis a custom and considered proper in one place is quite unheard of in other parts. With the Moslems, for example, the bride and bridegroojn sit in separate rooms for the wedding ceremony and make their vows by proxy, through their priests.
Ruth: In the Western world, a bride usually wears white. What customs do you have here, Veena?
Veena: The Gujratis wear white, but we Indians usually wear shades of red. An Indian bride will also wear a special red veil and lots of jewelry for her wedding. Her feet and hands are ornamented with vermilion dye and her face is elaborately done up with lots of sandalwood powder, and sometimes powdered tinsel is u&d in different patterns on her forehead. Often, for days in advance, her female relatives and friends come to prepare her. They ceremoniously apply to her body a paste of saffron, herbs and perfume, some of which is also sent to the bridegroom for his use, but as this is expensive, these relatives must be richly entertained during these days. Everything in connection with a marriage here is governed by the couple’s horoscope, although in latter years this practice has become more of a formality. With some castes, however, the couple still do not share the marriage bed until the auspicious night read in their horoscopes.
Ruth: How strange! Veena, in the West we have an amusing superstition. The bride must wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” Do you have anything like that?
Veena: Oh, yes, we have our superstitions too. In the corner of the veil some tie grain, rice, betel nut, shells and all sorts of things the bride thinks will ensure good luck and a well-provided future. All these social customs differ, of course, according to the different provinces, but the basic ceremony is according to the rites of the religious books, the Vedas, and varies little. We do not wear wedding rings as you do. In some provinces, the bride wears rings on her toes. In Kashmir they wear a special type of earring. Others wear iron bangles sometimes attractively decorated with gold or gold necklaces with black beads. The Nepalese wear a many-stranded necklace of tiny green beads; but whatever the custom, you can always easily tell a married woman immediately.
Ruth: When an engagement is made at an early age, would it be proper for one of the families concerned to break it at all?
Veena: Oh, no! For a family to break an engagement means that they will have a bad name in the community. A promise is considered to be binding whether made in infancy, childhood or just prior to the wedding. A dowry is something that has always featured prominently in Indian wedding arrangements and doubtless will continue to play some part, because a dowry is not necessarily money or property. It may be jewelry and nearly always includes clothes for the bridegroom and even his family, or maybe the girl’s family will guarantee to give some specialized education to the boy.
Ruth: With parents making arrangements for the marriage of their children, it must be easy for a girl to get a husband early in life.
Veena: It would seem that way, but in actual fact it can prove to be very difficult if a girl is unattractive or has any physical defect at all. If a boy happens to have an unattractive sister, his family may insist that the girl’s brother take her as a wife. Skill in music and dancing, as well as education, are also taken into account when assessing the merits of a prospective bride, and the standard is just as high for a bridegroom. Every day you can read matrimonial advertisements in the newspapers. Look at this one: “Wanted: pretty, slim bride for Sikh boy, aged 25, height 3' 3", highly respectable family of Lucknow. Income one hundred thousand yearly. Girl’s merits main consideration. Poverty, education, no bar. No dowry.” Here is another one: “Young lady, M.A. convent educated, of a well-connected Punjabi family, seeks matrimonial alliance with suitable young man, either commissioned officer or holding covenanted post. Man must be from well-connected Punjabi family."
Ruth: Certainly these seem very strange when seen through Western eyes.
Veena: I can imagine they do and so must all the many other customs and traditions that are peculiar to the various provinces, but of one thing you can be quite sure: An Indian woman will stick to her husband no matter what happens, whether he is good or bad. You see, our custom of arranged marriages is directly associated with our mental attitude toward marriage. We go into marriage prepared to face anything that may come along and that is why divorce is almost unheard of in most communities in India.
Ruth: What a contrast to so many Western lands where divorce rates continue to rise! I wonder, Veena, if it could be that in following the custom of falling in love before marriage, many come to expect too much of their partners? Whatever the answer, there is one thing I do feel sure about now: that the Indians have an ancient key for successful marriage!
SfcmtTician JeWtuS
In Cyprus one of Jehovah's witnesses who is an electrician never misses an opportunity to speak about Jehovah and his kingdom when installing lighting equipment, thereby giving spiritual as well as literal or physical enlightenment.
One day after he had completed his electrical work in the home of a theologian he was offered a cigarette. He refused it and began talking to the family about the kingdom of God and its blessings. The wife, amazed at what she saw and heard, said in front of her husband: “My husband is a theologian, but he smokes.
Mr.—— is an electrician, but he does not smoke. My husband is a theologian, but he never speaks to me about God, Mr,— is an electrician, but he always speaks about God." Truly, by their fruits you will know them!—Matt. 7:20.
years ago today I became a full-fledged nurse," said Sarah, “and since then I have never had a moment of peace! There are always more beds, growth, change, challenge, always more to do, more to learn, more patients,” Yet, as she reflected on the past, she smiled. “You know,” she said in a softer tone, “these have been satisfying years.”
Another nurse who dresses trafficaccident victims’ injuries, who sews up head wounds, eye and lip cuts, said: “My career is ministering to the suffering. I have never regretted my decision to become a nurse. I don’t know how I’d live without nursing.” Children, however, are her specialty. She cares for them with the warmth of a mother, and loves it. This nurse is a firm believer that “nursing means more than easing physical pain and giving pills.” To her it is mixture of science and sympathy, not the sympathy that simply sheds tears, but the kind that is willing to sacrifice and put itself out for others.
What moves a young intelligent girl to want to become a nurse? Certainly there are plenty of other jobs that are more glamorous, less trying and better paying. To be sure, nursing is humanitarian; it serves the needs of all people, regardless of race, creed or status. Still, this does not explain the motivating cause behind the nursing profession.
Actually, nursing is a development of the mother instinct or the mother-care-of-the-young impulse. The word itself comes from the word meaning “to nourish.” In the broadest meaning it covers not only the care of the sick, the lame, and so forth, but also the promotion of health and vigor in those who are well. So behind the title “nurse” there is the idea of cherishing and promoting good health as well as helping the sick. Many psychologists say the maternal or parental instinct is the main force behind the desire to become a nurse. This drive is found in all people and in both sexes, although women seem to have more of it than men. This force can be felt in the following experience.
“God will bless you for taking care of the sick,” said an old woman about to die. The nurse remarked: “With her eyes the woman wras saying, ‘I am not afraid to die, but I do not want to die alone.’ ” So the nurse sat down beside the woman and held her hand. A few minutes later the woman spoke her last words. “Just like a daughter,” she said. She meant the nurse was as loving and understanding as a daughter to her. After the woman died, “I cried like a baby,” the nurse said. Inwardly the nurse was satisfied for having helped at this critical moment, even though it was at a great sacrifice of herself, for it is not easy to watch people you love die.
Choosing Nursing as a Career is something that should be given serious thought before one finally decides. To decide from hearsay or impulse, to yield to the prodding of parents or friends, to be influenced by the movies or advertisements, to act on the basis of very little knowledge about the profession, is to learn the hard way. Prepare yourself by asking nurses and doctors about the profession. Read, look, listen and think carefully on the subject before making your decision. Remember, every year about a third of the girls who enter nurses’ training never graduate. They find the demands too great and the standards too high to meet. They will admit that they just did not have what it takes. Do you? Can you conform to the near-military discipline of the nursing school and hospital? Are you able to shoulder a life-and-death responsibility for others? Will continual association with the sick and the suffering depress you? Can you stand the smells, the sight of pain and blood?
True, a professional nurse has a certain prestige, but it must first be earned. This requires stamina, drive and determination. If you are in the habit of putting off until tomorrow things that should be done today, if you use words without understanding them, if you are not a good speller, if you do not write legibly, if you are not good in arithmetic, if you find it hard to put the welfare of others ahead of your own, then, let’s face it, you are not in a good position to undertake a professional nursing career. Most likely you would be happier doing other things. Here is why:
Besides the basic subjects that a girl is expected to have studied in high school, such as biology, chemistry and arithmetic, the professional nurse today must also have a good background knowledge of anatomy, physiology, microbiology and nutrition. She is expected to read books on psychology and new therapies, reports on medical research, manuals on nursing care, bulletins and vital statistics. Through training she is introduced “to the principles not only of simply medicine and surgery but also of urology, neurology, geriatrics, pediatrics, obstetrics, orthopedics, psychiatry, sociology, gynecology, ophthalmology and otolaryngology. And she must learn the techniques of her profession as practiced in public health and clinical and industrial nursing as well as in hospitals.” (New York Times Magazine, August 25, 1957) If you do not have the stamina or ability to master lesser subjects, certainly such formidable academic demands will prove too much for you. You will be wasting precious years trying to master them when your talents could easily be channeled in another direction more suitable to your capabilities.
Why the Shortage?
To some extent, these formidable academic demands may explain why the shortage of nurses. A recent survey indicated that at present there is a shortage of some 56,000 professional nurses in the United States. Still, three times as many girls enter college every year as take up the nursing profession. Although the country has more nurses today than ever before—some 460,000, of whom 97.6 percent are women —many hospital wards are closed for lack of nurses. Experts say there is need for 600,000 registered nurses right now and that the country will require 700,000 by 1970. Yet the registered nurses force increases by only some 19,000 a year.
The increase in the number of patients and hospitals is another reason why more nurses are needed. Hospital insurance has made it possible for millions of Americans • to enter hospitals. Just because they have hospital insurance they take their aches and pains to the hospital instead of caring for themselves. One nurse said that when the doctor told a woman, “I’m sending you home tomorrow,” she replied, “O no, doctor, you can’t! I just got here!” “There was absolutely nothing wrong with her. She had convinced someone she was ill so that she could be taken to the hospital. All she wanted was a place to pass the time of day,” the nurse said. Some hospitals minister to as many as 55,000 patients in a single year, and altogether too many of the patients are of this same caliber. Too often these occupy beds that truly sick patients cannot get because of overcrowding.
In less than ten years the number of hospitals in the United States increased by 676, to a total of 6,956, and their number is increasing constantly. The number of hospital beds increased 12 percent in ten years, hospital admissions increased 34 percent, births in hospitals increased 63 percent in this same period. As many as 13 out of every 100 Americans go to hospitals yearly now. This, of course, can mean only one thing—more hospitals, more doctors and more nurses.
Duties and Training
In the early hospitals the duties of the nurse included a great deal of housekeeping and administrative work, such as the care and management of kitchens, linen rooms, drug rooms and other supply departments, as well as the actual cooking, scrubbing, laundry work and other menial labor. In recent years the nature of the nurse’s work has changed; so has the training. Now a trained dietition prepares the food. Nurses’ aides, orderlies, volunteers and practical nurses take over the routine jobs in many hospitals. About eighty years ago nurses l&aned heavily on learning by doing, the trial-and-error system. Today more classroom work is required to keep abreast with the rapid medical advances, such as in the field of X-ray and atomic radiation.
The difference between a professional and a practical nurse is primarily in the amount of training each receives and, therefore, in the work each is allowed to do. The basic nursing course that 84 percent of all students take is three years of classroom instruction and on-the-job training in a hospital. Prior to World War II, the practical nurse assisted only in the care of patients not acutely ill, but due to the great shortage of nurses during the war and after, they have taken over many of the jobs once done by the professional nurse. They now bathe patients, make beds, change dressings, observe and record the patients’ symptoms and reactions.
On the other hand, the professional nurse has found herself operating more in a supervisory or in an administrative capacity over the nonprofessionals. Today she very rarely takes full charge of a patient. More often she acts as a captain of a hospital team made up of one or two registered nurses, a practical nurse, two or three student nurses, an orderly, a nursing aide, attendants, ward maids and sometimes a volunteer aide as well. These generally perform their duties for which they are trained under the direction of the professional nurse. In the past twenty years this arrangement has edged the professional nurse away from direct contact with her patients to the point where she sees less of them in the flesh and more of them on paper now. Surveys show that only 20 percent of their time is spent in direct contact with patients and 80 percent on duties that keep them away from the patient’s bedside. The professional nurse spends more time keeping records than she does nursing patients.
A Look report (July 7,1959) stated that many professional nurses are dissatisfied and frustrated at being separated from their patients. The article said that one professional nurse when asked about this revolutionary change in her practice remarked: “The only true, soul-satisfying work to me is bedside nursing. It involves patience, skill, teaching and psychology. By giving your best, you feel that you are giving some degree of good and happiness to others, and they in turn give to you." Another said: “Many of us are bitter over separation from patients, particularly since some of our most sacred duties have been given to others—some of whom are grossly unprepared.”
The professional nurse, who is best qualified to care for the sick, reportedly spends most of her time behind desks and filing cabinets, while nonprofessional nurses are performing the more complex tasks and supplying the human warmth and comfort to the patients. A few years ago 65 percent of the nursing staff of a general hospital consisted of professional nurses and 35 percent nonprofessional help. Today the opposite is true. About 25 percent are professional nurses and 75 percent nonprofessionals.
Complaints and Pay
Both nurses and patients are dissatisfied with the way things are done in many hospitals. Nurses complain that what they have learned in the classroom about understanding the patient’s needs and stimulating him toward independence is often forgotten in the ward. One nurse said: “The floor nurses don’t apply any of the things they learn in class. Frankly, I think the hospital has a split personality.”
The patients complain that nurses are too often curt and untactful. “Why must I drink that?” the patient asks. “Doctor’s orders,” is the sharp reply. “Why is my mouth dry?” “Ask your doctor.” Would it not be just as easy and a whole lot kindlier to say, “The drink will do you good,” and, “You have a slight fever,” than to deal so severely with the patient ? Qualities of love, sympathy and understanding go a long way toward making both the patient and the nurse feel better.
A United States Department of Labor survey showed nurses earn an average of $66 a week. Salaries for nurses go up sharply with experience and added responsibilities. Those at the top of the profession earn $200 a week and more. Despite these good wages, about 43 percent of the registered nurses in the United States at present are doing work other than nursing. Every year some 5 percent of the nursing force drops out. Marriage and family responsibilities claim a large percentage of these. Others find greater opportunities, more advancement and money in other fields.
A great effort is under way to woo the professional nurse back into the fold. Promises of better wages and lower rents are made. A lighter work-load and greater opportunities to get ahead are held forth. Refresher courses at low costs are offered to those who have not kept up with the latest developments. Nursery schools are set up for married nurses with small children. But despite these attractive inducements, professional nurses seem rather hesitant about returning to their first love —the nursing profession.
Whether you choose nursing as your profession in life is, of course, a decision that you must make. If you do, then know there is a great field from which to choose. There is hospital nursing, first aid, home nursing, industrial nursing, obstetrical nursing, practical nursing, psychiatric nursing, pediatric nursing, public health nursing, orthopedic nursing, Red Cross nursing, school nursing, surgical nursing, and so on. Make a wise choice. The fact that nursing brings comfort to so many proves a source of deep satisfaction to many as they devote themselves to those who very much need their help.
EVERY summer there is a mass movement to lakes and seashores throughout the world. But thousands of those who plunge into the water do not come out alive. In the United States alone more than 6,000 people drown each year. Many more would drown if it were not for the alertness and skill of lifeguards.
Why drown when it can easily be avoided? Whether you are a good swimmer or no swimmer at all, you can survive in deep water for hours without tiring. But usually you need to keep yourself conscious and alive for only a few minutes until help comes. Knowing what to do can save your life.
Panic is probably the principal reason why many people fail to survive the few minutes needed for saving them. Because they frantically fight the water to keep their head above the surface, they quickly exhaust themselves. This is a fatal mistake. The first requirement for survival in water is to keep calm. Besides shortening your chances for staying alive, panic endangers the life of your rescuer and makes rescue more difficult. Very often a would-be rescuer is grasped in a strangle hold by the drowning person, and unless he is well trained in lifesaving techniques he may also drown. More than one life is frequently lost in an effort to save a drowning person.
The first thought the average person has when he sees someone drowning is to jump in and swim to the rescue. If he is not a good swimmer he will be of no help to the drowning person when he reaches him. Very likely he will be so tired that he will have difficulty getting himself back to shore, much less the one he came to save. This is especially so if the victim is large. He also needs strength and skill for breaking a strangle hold if one is put on him.
If you are not a good swimmer, avoid a double tragedy by not jumping into the water. Instead, look for a boat. If none is nearby, perhaps there is somebody in a boat offshore that you can call to. If not, look for a life ring, buoy, rope, inner tube or anything else that can be thrown to the person. If he is beyond your reach, run for help.
Save Your Strength
In the event that you find yourself in difficulty while in deep water, do not use up your strength by frantically thrashing the water. Remain calm; keep your head.
Do not imagine that you will go to the bottom like a lead sinker if you stop fighting the water. The air in your lungs and the fat in your body give you a natural buoyancy that will keep you floating near the surface.
One method of floating is to roll on your back with your body stretched out and your arms and legs bent like a frog’s for better buoyancy. If you have very little fat in your body, you may find that a few slight movements of your feet and hands will be necessary. Do not try to hold your head out of the water. Your head is heavy, weighing perhaps twelve pounds. Let it rest on the water. If your face is awash, you can raise your head a little each time you need air. Keep your arms and shoulders under the water. By calmly relaxing on your back, you will save your energy and be able to survive the short time it usually takes for help to arrive.
Floating Face Down
By far the best way to conserve your energy and to survive in the water is to float face down. This method, developed a number of years ago by Fred Lanoue, a swimming instructor in an American university, has saved a great many lives. It makes survival in the water for many hours possible. The method uses the water to hold up your body, including your head. Since your head is heavy, trying to hold it above the water saps a lot of energy.
This method saved the life of a seaman who fell from an ocean liner not so long ago. When the man found himself in the water, he realized that he was hundreds of miles from shore and that his only hope for survival was to remain floating until he was missed and the liner could turn around and pick him up. Three hours after he had fallen overboard, the liner returned and found him in good condition.
Another example is that of a crippled boy whose wheelchair was accidentally struck by two racing youngsters, causing it to roll off a dock and dump the boy Into the water. While the two frightened youngsters ran for help, the crippled lad used the face-down floating method and kept himself from drowning. His rescuers were amazed that he was alive, because he was paralyzed from the waist down.
The face-down system can keep you alive for many hours, even in rough water, whether you can swim or not. Lanoue took a group of fifty-seven poor swimmers and put them in the water to see how long they could stay there by using his system of floating. The average quitting time for the group was four hours and fifty-two minutes. Sixteen stayed in for eight hours. A skillful swimmer that was tied hand and foot remained in the water several hours. He was as fresh when he quit as when he began.
How to Be Drownproof
The first step in Lanoue’s system is to relax, letting your whole body go limp after taking a deep breath of air. Drop your head forward in the water and let your body hang vertically like a jellyfish. Do not worry; you will not sink. Your body will float in the water with only the back of your head above the surface. By hanging there, feet down, you are letting the water do the work of supporting you, and you are conserving your energy. Your buttocks may tend to swing upward if you are fat, but this can be stopped by exhaling some air.
Hang limply for a few seconds and then cross your arms in front of your head in a relaxed and easy manner. In the same easy manner lift one leg toward your chest and extend it forward while at the same time you extend the other leg backward. Now raise your head, exhaling through your nose. Since the back of your head is above water, you will not have to raise your head very high.
To keep your head above water while you inhale bring your feet together and in a lazy, easy movement sweep your arms outward. You want the movement to be sufficient so you can get a breath of air but not so much that it brings your shoulders out of the water. As soon as you have some air drop your head in the water again, face down, and bring your arms to your sides. Rest with your body completely relaxed. Do not hang there until your lungs feel as if they are bursting for air, but come up for air before you feel the need for it. If your chest feels tight, you may be either resting too long or not taking in enough air.
By alternately resting and coming up for air in the manner just described, you will find that you can stay in the water for hours without becoming fatigued. Rather than using up your strength by continuous body movements, as when treading water, you are spending most of the time resting. This method will keep you alive for a long time during an emergency.
Traveling Without Tiring
It is possible to travel at least a mile without becoming tired by using a simple swim stroke along with this face-down method of floating. After taking in air, drop your head in the water and bring your arms in front of your head. Separate your legs like a pair of scissors. Your body will now begin to swing up to a horizontal position. Bring your legs together in a scissorlike kick. When they have come together, sweep your arms back with your palms open and fingers closed. Do this in an easy, relaxed manner, bringing your arms back to your thighs. Relax as your body glides forward.
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Now rest and replenish your air supply by bringing your body back to the vertical, hanging position. This is done by bringing your knees to your chest and putting your arms to your forehead. Then extend one leg forward and one backward. Raise your head, bring your legs together gently and sweep your arms out lazily. Exhale the old air and take in a fresh supply. In this manner you can rest and also swim to safety if it is not too far away.
Precaution Best Safeguard
With a knowledge of how to float there' is no need to drown, but there is also no need to get in a situation where you are in danger of drowning. In most instances a little precaution is all that is necessary. Swim only half as far from shore as you can comfortably go, remembering that you must swim back. Swim only where there are lifeguards on duty. Never swim immediately after a meal or stay in the water until you are cold. At no time should you swim alone. Observing these few precautions can help to safeguard you from the danger of drowning.
Practice the face-down floating method the next time you go swimming so it will come easy for you when it may be needed. If you have children, by all means teach it to them. Why should you or your children drown when it is possible to survive by floating?
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«T ET marriage be honorable among all.
■L1 and the marriage bed be without defilement,” (Heb. 13:4) How Jehovah’s witnesses help others to obey that rule is shown by the following experiences:
• After studying the Bible for several months with one of the Witnesses a young Martinique mother of two children wanted to dedicate herself to God, but she had an obstacle: she was living with a man to whom she was not married. Learning of God’s requirements, she explained to him, in spite of living with him for nine years and having two children by him, “If you continue to refuse to marry me, I will leave you because my only wish is to live in harmony with Jehovah’s will.” The man, not taking her seriously, said: “We will see about that later.” Then one day he came home to find the house empty. Locating her, he begged: “Please come back. We will get married in three months.” She replied: “No, my dear; I will go back with you after marriage, not before!” In three weeks they were married and at the first opportunity thereafter she got baptized.1
• A couple living in a common-law relationship in Jamaica, upon learning the Bible principles on marriage, arranged to get married. Outsiders, some of whom had traveled far to be present, were greatly impressed, and as a result many former op posers are now listening to Bible truth. As one prominent citizen expressed it: “I thank God I was there, for I have heard many ceremonies, but in all my life nothing like this.”1
• In Tanganyika a Witness was studying the Bible with a man who was planning to divorce his wife and marry another woman. When he Anally bought the tickets to send his wife back to his mother the Witness made one last effort to help him see God’s requirements regarding marriage. As a result he changed his mind, explaining to his friends: “These' men of God have explained the proper way to live with my wife.” The two are now living happily together and the man has begun to preach the good news to others.1
• In Panama a Witness was conducting a Bible study with a family of seven, the parents and five small children. As the parents pro
gressed they wanted to share in preaching the good news to others, but there was some doubt about their being married. So once, just before their weekly Bible study, the Witness explained to them God’., requirements regarding honorable marriage. The senora did not say a word, but the man was visibly shaken. He said that he had not known that and that he had never considered getting married. Because he was taking it so hard the subject was dropped and the Bible study begun. Halfway through the study the wife had to leave the room, and then the man confided that he could not Keep his mind on the study for thinking about the matter but that he could not trust any woman and that he just could not see how he could possibly marry; at least he would have to think it over for a long time. He was assured that no one was trying to force him into marriage but that if he wanted to be a Witness he could not do otherwise, and that the Witnesses would be glad to perform the ceremony free of charge. However, at the conclusion of the study he said: “Well, I have made up my mind; we are getting married.” They were married two weeks later, began preaching the good news of the Kingdom and both were immersed at the first assembly that followed, ■
• Also in Peru persons of good will toward God are learning that marriage is held in honor among Jehovah’s witnesses. One outstanding example was that of a seventy-two-year-old man who finally married his sixty-four-year-old companion after they had lived together for many, many years and had raised a large family. One of their own sons, a lawyer, arranged the legal matters! Shortly after they were married the old man was baptized and since then has been a zealous witness of Jehovah in spite of failing health.1 • In Boston, Massachusetts, a man who had decided to leave his wife and live with his mistress in another eity was persuaded by a Witness to hear a discourse on marriage given by the president of the Watchtower Society. After hearing this discourse he returned to his wife to remain true to her. As a result of this she is now studying the Bible with one of Jehovah’s witnesses. Yes, Jehovah’s witnesses do hold marriage in honor.
By
AY I offer you a piece of
'‘Awake!” correspondent in Switzerland
brown sugar and vanilla being added to the
chocolate?” “Oooh! How deli
cious! It just melts in your mouth, doesn’t it? But once I get started, I just can’t stop.” “Don’t I know it! I have often asked myself, Why is it so deliciously moreish? And all the different kinds' Why, it’s a delight just to look in the shops. Since World War II the chocolate industry has showered upon us the most luxurious assortment of new flavors and kinds. Every few months a new one, wrapped in the gayest of wrappers, tempting to the eye and making the water run in your mouth. Just look at them: nuts and raisins, almonds and honey, oranges and pineapples, apricots and raspberries, fondant and liqueur fillings of all flavors. The manufacturers vie with one another to offer us a new one— a veritable race in fantasy and initiative. And the confectioners and pastry cooks just revel in doing the same. How did it all get started, and why is little Switzerland the acknowledged leader in this race, and why, oh why, does it do things to our livers, while egging us on to eat more?”
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