Awake!, April 8, 1966
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God Is Alive!
PAGE 5
Technical Science Speeds Postal Service
PAGE 9
Modesty Befits the Medical Profession
PAGE 12
Gilead School and Its Forty-first Class
PAGE 25
APRIL 8, 1966
THE REASON FOR THIS MAGAZINE
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. "Awake!" has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ties; it is unhampered by traditional creeds. This magazine keeps itself free, that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.
The viewpoint of "Awake!" is not narrow, but is international. "Awake!" has its own correspondents in scares of nations. Its articles are read in many lands, in many languages, by millions of persons.
In every issue "Awakel" presents vital topics on which you should be informed. It features penetrating articles on social conditions and offers sound counsel for meeting the problems of everyday life. Current news from every continent passes in quick review. Attention is focused on activities in the fields of government and commerce about which you should know. Straightforward discussions of religious issues alert you to matters of vital concern. Customs and people in many lands, the marvels of creation, practical sciences and points of human interest are all embraced in its coverage. "Awakel" provides wholesome, instructive reading for every member of the family.
"Awakel" pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of God's righteous new order in this generation.
Get acquainted with "Awake!" Keep awake by reading "Awake!"
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CONTENTS
The Wisdom of Humbling Yourself 3
God Is Alive! 5
Technical Science Speeds Postal Service 9
Modesty Beits the Medical Profession 12
Telephone Calls that Harass and Terrorize
—What Can Be Done About Them? 17
The Revolution in Office Copying 20
Animal Doctoring 23
Gilead School and Its Forty-first Class 25
"Your Word Is Truth"
Can the Living Aid the Dead? 27
Watching the World 29
Volume XLVII
London, England, April 8, 1968
Number 7
The Wisdom of HUMBLING YOURSELF
WHO does not want to be wise? And where are we more likely to learn about wisdom than in the Word of the all-wise Creator, Jehovah-God? It tells us that the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom and that the fear of God, in turn, means the hating of what is bad. It follows, then, that the truly wise person will hate what is bad, what is harmful to himself or to others, and will love what is good and right.—Prov. 9:10; 8:13.
We are also told that, "as regards anyone wise, his eyes are in his head"; that is, he sees where he is going. Wisdom, therefore, means the discerning of worthwhile objectives and knowing how to go about attaining them. But more than that, wisdom also means acting in harmony with such knowledge, as can be seen from the illustration that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, gave in his Sermon on the Mount. Therein he showed that the foolish man was the one who heard his words but did nothing about them, whereas the wise man was the one who heard his sayings and then acted in accordance with them.—Eccl. 2:14; Matt. 7:24-27.
Yes, to be wise you must not only have worthwhile goals or objectives and know how to go about attaining them but be willing to put forth the needed effort, to pay their cost, as it were. The cost may be time, or it may be mental or physical effort, but did you know that often the realizing of an objective may simply be the willingness on your part to humble yourself? It might therefore be said that at times pride is a costly and foolish luxury, whereas humility is truly practical wisdom.
For example, when Jesus Christ was on earth as a man he set as one of his objectives the helping of as many as possible to embrace the pure worship of his Father, Jehovah God. This caused some of his opponents to complain about his eating and drinking with the despised sinners of his day. But he was merely humbling himself to associate with them, that he might do them good, not that he preferred their company for its own sake. As he himself expressed it: "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but those who are ailing do. I have come to call, not righteous persons, but sinners to repentance." Likewise, to teach his apostles the important lesson of lowliness of mind Jesus was willing to humble himself to the extent of washing their feet—in his day considered a most menial task. Luke 5: 30-32; John 13:4-16.
A close imitator or Jesus Christ in this respect was the apostle Paul. For the sake of winning others to Christ he was willing to humble himself, to put himself on the level of others: "Though I am free from all persons, I have made myself the slave to all, that I may gain the most persons." Although he was a free man, he was willing to "become all things to people of all sorts, that [he] might by all means save some." That he was willing to humble himself for the sake of doing good to others he states in so many words in one of his letters: "Did I commit a sin by humbling myself that you might be exalted, because without cost I gladly declared the good news of God to you?"—1 Cor. 9:19-22; 2 Cor. 11:7.
So in our everyday affairs: Time and again we can accomplish some worthy, wise and loving objective by being willing to humble ourselves. At times there may be friction or a misunderstanding between two persons or groups. If you would be successful as peacemaker in bringing the two opposing parties together you may well find it will take some humbling on your part so as to be able to influence each side or person to make concessions or to see the other's viewpoint. Or it may be that some friend has cooled off toward you. It will take humility on your part to elicit from him the reason for it and sincerely to apologize, even though you may think that he is more to blame than you are, if you would realize your objective of restoring friendly relations with him. —Matt. 5:23, 24.
A wise and understanding wife and mother will often see her opportunities to humble herself for the sake of maintaining or restoring peace among the members of her family circle or with those on the outside. Thus there was the discreet woman Abigail in ancient Israel, whose churlish husband Nabal had aroused the
wrath or the rugine David, later king or Israel. David's men had, protected the flocks of Nabal ever so long and when David suggested some compensation he was met with abuse. Because of this, David, along with his men, was ready to wreak bloody vengeance on Nabal and his household; but Abigail, hearing about it, embarked on a peace-restoring mission, humbly bringing a train of gifts to David. For this, David was truly grateful, as she averted his shedding of blood. In doing so, she not only averted David's vengeance at the time, but also won his heart, for when she became a widow David asked her to become his wife.—1 Sam. 25:1-42.
No doubt Abigail's humility was one of the reasons she appeared so desirable to David, and this is a lesson all young folks who are concerned with acquiring happiness in the marital state may well bear in mind. Humility makes us attractive to others as well as helping us to overcome misunderstandings.
In particular is it the course of wisdom to humble ourselves when we have made a mistake. As the Book of divine wisdom also counsels: "If the spirit of a ruler should mount up against you, do not leave your own place, for calmness itself allays great sins." In other words, when being reproved by one in authority for having come short in some respect, humble yourself, exercise self-control, do not angrily fight back, trying to justify yourself, or walk off, and your mistake will most likely be forgiven and forgotten.—Eccl. 10:4.
The wise humbling of oneself to accomplish some worthy objective or to restore good relations is seldom practiced these days, and this is no doubt one of the reasons why so many human relationships are strained. But the Bible, by precept and examples, encourages you to do so, and happy will you be if you heed its counsel!
uttled God and the Bible. Statements by churchmen such as the following by a Methodist are now common: "The Bible is the greatest collection of mythology in the history of Western civilization." (Time, February 4, 1966) The logical result of so much skepticism among religious leaders could only be the continued downward plunge of faith among the masses of peo-
"WE MUST recognize that the death of God is a historical event: God has died in our time, in our history, in our existence," declared a professor of Bible and religion at a Methodist school in the United States.
ple who listen to them.
When stripped of all the conflicting philosophical twists and turns, what this concept means, for all practical purposes, is what German philosopher Friedrich Neitzche meant when he originated the
phrase "God is dead" during the nineteenth century. He meant that there is no God. The expounders of this idea today really say the same thing. They argue that the existence of God can no longer be verified by human experience, and that, as far
Other religious leaders forward this same view now, that, in effect, "God is dead." Of this, the October 22, 1965, issue of Time said: "The death-of-God theologians do not argue merely that Christianity's traditional 'image' of the Creator is obsolete. They say that it is no longer possible to think about or believe in a transcendent God who acts in human history, and that Christianity will have to survive, if at all, without him."
How widespread this attitude is can be seen from this statement printed in the
as the human family is concerned, "God is dead."
Christian?
A strange aspect of this current "God is dead" cult is that most of its adherents claim to be Christian. They believe that Jesus Christ is an exemplar of ethical conduct, and that a Christian is one who obeys Jesus' teachings concerning human relationships.
The idea that a person who calls himself a Christian could at the same time
seen from this statement printed in the National Observer of January 31, 1966: "A 'God is dead' mood pervades the thought of 90 percent of the Protestant theologians under 40."
All this comes as no surprise to those alert to religious trends. It has been evident for some time that a breakdown of faith has been taking place in Christendom. More and more clergymen have be APRIL 8, 1966
such a Christian could at the same time reject God would have seemed strange indeed to Jesus Christ. The "Christian atheist" he would have regarded as an impossibility. Why? Because Jesus Christ believed in God. He knew that God had a name, a purpose and also the power to fulfill that purpose. At all times Jesus taught about this God, Jehovah, and how one should be obedient to him. He taught of God: "The Father is greater than I am."—John 14:28.
Jesus showed that all credit for his teaching must go to God. He said: "I do nothing of my own initiative; but just as the Father taught me I speak these things. . . from God I came forth and am here. Neither have I come of my own initiative at all, but that One sent me forth." (John 8:28, 42) In prayer to God, Jesus said: "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on the earth, having finished the work you have given me to do. . . I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me." —John 17:1-6.
Whom was Jesus talking about? Was he just pretending to believe in God? Was he praying just for show? Was he then a liar, pretending something existed that he knew really did not? If so, why would anyone want to have Christ as an exemplar, as today's "atheistic Christians" say they do? No, Jesus was no liar. When he prayed, it was to a God that existed. When he said God sent him and that God had a name, it was the truth.
The main work that Jesus set out for his followers was to teach people about God, his purposes and his requirements. How, then, could one possibly claim to be Christian and not believe in God?
You, the reader, would do well to meditate soberly on this point: In Jesus' day there were many who rejected what he taught about God. They had their own conflicting ideas. But Jesus showed clearly where such ones got these ideas. He said to them: "Why is it you do not know what I am speaking? Because you cannot listen to my word. You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. . . . If I speak truth, why is it you do not believe me?
He that is from God listens to the sayings of God. This is why you do not listen, because you are not from God."—John 8: 42-47.
Today it is the same! Those who insist on saying that "God is dead," that God's Word the Bible is "mythology," that one can be a Christian and also reject the living God, are likewise under the influence and control of the "liar and the father of the lie," Satan the Devil. (John 8:44) They have allowed themselves to become debased in their thinking, to come into total darkness as far as God and his purposes are concerned. As Jesus said: "Blind guides is what they are. If, then, a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."—Matt. 15:14.
Pharaoh Learns that God Lives
There was a Pharaoh of ancient Egypt, nearly 3,500 years ago, who found out the hard way that God was not "dead," but very much alive. In the sixteenth century B.C.E. this man held the nation of Israel in captivity and slavery. He would not let them go nor lighten their burdens. He arrogantly stated: "Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah at all and, what is more, I am not going to send Israel away." (Ex. 5:2) As far as Pharaoh was concerned, God was "dead."
Imagine his shock when God manifested himself in a spectacular way! How? By devastating Egypt, humiliating its gods, delivering Israel from slavery, and then smashing Egypt's armed forces without a sword lifted against them by any humans!
First, the living God brought a series of plagues specifically designed to disgrace and humiliate Egypt's gods, such as the god of the Nile River, the god of cattle and of crops, the sun-god, and others. When confronted by the God who actually lives and exerts supreme power, these gods of Egypt proved helpless, because in reality they had never been alive.
Even Egypt's priests of false religion had to acknowledge Jehovah's supremacy, for they said after one plague: "It is the finger of God!"—Ex. 8:19.
The plagues stunned Pharaoh, especially the last, which killed the precious first-born of all Egypt, including Pharaoh's own household. The god of Egypt's first-born, Amon-Ra, was unable to preserve them, but Jehovah preserved the firstborn among his people Israel. Yes, Egypt's gods were really "dead"; Jehovah was alive!
Reluctantly, Pharaoh said to the Israelites: "Go, serve Jehovah." (Ex. 12:31) But he soon regretted freeing all this valuable slave labor and so mustered his entire military force to try to recapture them. At the Red Sea this stubborn man was again confronted by the power of the living God, Jehovah. After miraculously parting the waters to let several million Israelites pass safely to the other side, "Jehovah shook the Egyptians off into the midst of the sea. And the waters kept coming back. Finally they covered the war chariots and the cavalrymen belonging to all of Pharaoh's military forces . . . Not so much as one among them was let remain." Pharaoh learned the hard way that God was not "dead," that He indeed controls the affairs of men when it suits his purpose.—Ex. 14:27, 28.
Difficulty of Skeptics
If God acts so mightily, why the difficulty in believing that He lives in our day? A basic reason is that the skeptics feel that, even if God did perform mighty works in the past, he is not doing so today. There is no Red Sea opening up for faithful ones and crashing down on opposers that they can see. Nor do these observe God bringing peace, health, happiness or prosperity to earth.
But does this mean God is not acting? No. The skeptic, blinded by Satan the Devil, has not looked in the right place to determine what God's purpose is for earth, when he will act and of what his acts consist. (2 Cor. 4:4) He has not turned to God's inspired Word, the Bible, in humility to learn. God has provided all this information, clearly, for any who will look earnestly for it, but look they must.
Skeptics, in their pride, usually want God to perform as they see fit, in their way, time and place. They want God molded in their image. They are not willing patiently to learn how and when God will remedy man's ills, in His time, His place, His way.
God's Word True
The very fact that such skepticism exists today actually helps to show that God's Word is ever true.
How so? Because God, who lives and exerts supreme power, is also a God of prophecy. He told man ahead of time what would come to pass. One of such things foretold for our day is that "the love of the greater number will cool off." (Matt. 24:12) Indeed, love for God on the part of millions is cooling off.
Together with dozens of other Bible prophecies, it indicates clearly that the time God foretold in his Word long ago is now upon us, today. It means we live in the "last days" of this present system of things. Notice how precisely our day was prophesied in the Bible: "But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power."—2 Tim.
3:1-5.
Now, then, could anyone except a living God have foretold this situation we see before our very eyes today? For ages men have incorrectly predicted they would bring peace and prosperity. Yet, all the while Bible prophecy has correctly maintained the opposite, that in this system of things "wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being mlslead."—2 Tim. 3:13.
Jesus himself foretold world wars, famines, diseases, hatreds, and many other things that have come to pass in our lifetime. He also warned: "Many false prophets will arise and mislead many." (Matt. 24:11) The clergy of Christendom, with their "God is dead" philosophy, exactly fit this prophecy. How true God's infallible Word!
God's Purposes Move Forward
Bible-based Christians know that without God nothing could exist. He has provided the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. If he withdrew these gifts, all life would cease.
They also know that, while the skeptic may refuse to acknowledge it, God is having a great work performed by humble persons today, a work he backs with his power. That work Jesus foretold when he said: "This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." (Matt. 24:14) This preaching work is not of man. If it were, it would have collapsed long ago because of the opposition against it. Instead, each year this Kingdom preaching grows in magnitude, until now a society of persons numbering well over 1,000,000 proclaim it.
Also, this society of people, living by the Bible's precepts, have overcome all national, social and religious barriers and so live together in peace and harmony. Other men, societies and nations have not been able to do this on an international scale. Only by the power of God could humble, insignificant persons accomplish what the world's wise men, including the United Nations, could not! So the gathering of God-fearing men into a peaceful society and the amazing preaching work they perform is what God is accomplishing by his mighty power today.
These Christians also realize that a titanic act of God nears, one that will dwarf what he performed against Egypt, for world events move rapidly toward the climax that Jesus foretold, the end of this present system of things. Then God will demonstrate his awesome power by wiping out all that is false, wicked and hurtful, as he will those who insist upon rejecting him as the living God.
But believingly obedient ones will survive the end of this order and, under God's guidance, will build a clean, new society. Eventually earth will become a paradise on which God-fearing persons will live forever. Also, they will continually take in knowledge of Jehovah and teach others to do so.-Isa. 11:9.
So do not be disheartened by the evergrowing trend away from God and his Word. To the contrary, "as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near." (Luke 21:28) Reject the vain, empty babbels of today's cultists who are in spiritual darkness, for "look! They have rejected the very word of Jehovah, and what wisdom do they have?"—Jer. 8:9.
No, God is by no means "dead." He lives and works out his grand purposes, and will bring rich blessings to humble persons who put their trust in him, for the living God never falls.
cess of change in its efforts to provide the desired service. The bulk of mail continues to grow. The United States alone now employs some 610,000 workers to handle the annual flow of over 72,000,000,000 pieces of mail. The services of technical science have been called on to ease the handling of the mail and speed up the service.
POSTAL SERVICE
BY "AWAKE!" CORRESPONDENT IN WEST GERMANY
THE desire to communicate and to receive news is as old as the human race. For hundreds of years the means for accomplishing this existed only in the simplest form. So, when compared with the long-used Indian smoke signals and Afri-
and speed up the service.
It is just in the last ten years, however, that it has become possible to speak of true mecha-
nization in the postal system.
There was hardly anything to be seen of the "spirit of technology" in the post office of a few years back. Behind the clerk's window his equipment consisted mainly of a pen, stamp book, postmark stamp and scissors. Each postage stamp had to be carefully taken out of the book. Each payment for a money order was
can tom-toms, the introduction of the Roman State Mail, by Caesar Augustus Octavianus in the year 14 C.E. was a remarkable step forward. But a long time elapsed before postal facilities became generally accessible for everyone in all countries.
This can be seen by the fact that the world's first postage stamp was sold in England in the year 1840. Postage had previously been collected from the recipient, or evidence of repayment was marked on the letter. That first use of
Each payment for a money order was registered by hand and the amount entered on the order, after which it was stamped several times by hand and the stub was torn off or cut off with scissors.
Nowadays the clerk at the modern postoffice counter in West Germany places the postal money order form in a small stamping machine, types the amount on an auditing machine alongside, pushes a button and the figures are entered on the receipts list while the stamping machine automatically stamps the necessary date and information on the form.
stamps for the repayment of postage to a government was suggested by Sir Rowland Hill in 1837, in his pamphlet on postal reform. Postal reform is still going on, especially in this age of technical science.
Postal Mechanization Speeds Mailing The growing demands of the so-called Industrial Revolution have kept the international postal system in a continual pro- APRIL 8,1966
formation on the money order form. There is nothing more to be done. The auditing machine reckons the total of the amounts plus fees, retains the totals for each page of the postal record, automatically makes the carry-overs on the next sheet, and thus saves time-consuming addition and entries. There are approximately eight hundred such machines now in operation in the postal system of West Germany. They also speed the handling of packages.
Automatic Post Offices
So-called "deaf post offices" are used in a number of countries. These are booths with stamp and postal-card vending machines as well as mailboxes. For those living in suburbs and outlying sections this arrangement saves trips in to the regular post office. In the United States an expanded variety of such "automatic post offices" in some places even includes a package-processing automat, post-office boxes and writing-paper vending machines.
In the handling of packages, mechanization has stepped in to master the rapidly increasing need. Some of the large post offices send out more than 100,000 packages a day in various directions. This places an immense load on the distributing system and requires prudent management to avoid disrupting the system and causing delay in delivery. So modern technical helps are utilized. In a central control room the entire distribution system is mapped out on an illuminated diagram that shows the actually existing situation at all times. A distributing conveyor system is used to carry the packages by means of conveyor belts, roller races, chutes and connections that may stretch out over three thousand feet (nearly 1,000 meters) and pass through several rooms. From the control room close check is maintained by means of industrial television so that no tie-ups occur.
Overcoming Traffic Problems
In the large cities it is becoming more and more of a problem to deliver the mail by way of overcrowded streets. The average speed of delivery right within a city has slowed down so much in some cases that it cannot be compared with the speed possible by air or rail between cities. Similarly, when a large number of letters arrive late, it is difficult for the main collection centers to get the mail through the city to the train and plane connections on time.
In Hamburg, Germany, this problem occupied the experts for some time. Then they created the technical prerequisites for a large tube-conveyance system, and now the first 1.1 miles (c. 1,750 meters) of it are already in use. About 1,000 small-size letters are placed in a capsule, which is transported through the tube system by blower and suction mechanisms that move it at a speed of about 19 miles per hour (about 30 kilometers per hour) from the post office to the train station. Two or three capsules can be sent each minute, and this makes it possible to transport close to half a million letters during three of the main rush hours. The entire tube system in Hamburg is to be 62 miles (100 kilometers) long when completed—without doubt a venturesome project, since this first section cost no less than 1.3 million Deutsch marks ($325,000).
Zip Codes and Mechanization
Probably the most time-consuming work is that of sorting the mail, determining where it is going and how it should go. To eliminate the old method of hand-sorting incoming and outgoing mail, officials of economically strong countries in Europe and America are working on mechanization, sorting the mail by machines. The introduction of zip-code numbers is a necessary preliminary step that has already been taken in a number of countries.
In a mechanized postal system each letter must first go through a coding machine, which makes small lines or marks on the letter according to the zip-code number it carries; then the letter can go to a sorting machine. From six to ten code-writing machines are needed to feed just one sorting machine. Because the marks put on the letter by the code-writing machine are magnetized or are fluorescent, the sorting machine can now route the letters automatically in the right direction.
New coding and sorting machines installed in the United States in Buffalo and Detroit, designed to handle letters with typed or printed addresses, are expected to process 36,000 pieces of mail an hour, some fifteen times faster than sorting by hand.
Probably one of the first completely mechanized post offices is that of Providence, Rhode Island, which Arthur E. Summerfield, then Post Master General, called "a milestone along the way of progress in the postal system." In order to visualize how the automated system works, suppose we follow the letters there.
On a street corner in Providence a mailman empties the mail from the mailbox into a special container. On arrival at the post office he is directed to a place at the loading ramp and here the container is put directly onto a conveyor that runs high overhead. A worker controlling traffic on the conveyor puts a number on the container so that it will go to the right place. This is also registered in the control tower or "nerve center" so that the operating personnel know at all times just where the respective mail is.
The contents of this container eventually are dumped into a loading chute and fall into the sizing system, where they are sorted according to parcels and large and small letters, at a speed surpassing that of human hands. Packages and long envelopes are sent off in one direction to be handled separately while the small letters are passed from this first separating machine to the dating machine, where the date, hour, the well-known wavy lines that cancel the stamp, and the name of the city
of Providence are stamped on the letters at the rate of 25,000 an hour.
Once dated, the letters are held upright and, in this position, are brought by conveyors to the next sorting machine. Each of these fifteen-ton machines has mechanical arms that bring the letters to the six or more workers who operate the keyboards of the coding machines. As each letter goes by, the operator reads the zip code and pushes certain keys that enable the built-in electric accumulator system to know to which of the 300 collection bins the letter is now to be routed. After the letters have fallen into their respective bins, other workers bundle them and send them by conveyors to the sacking department, and from there they go by truck, train or plane to their destinations in all parts of the earth.
More and more mail is being sent by planes. In some countries the mail is already being sent greater distances by air without extra charge. Fifteen years ago France initiated night airmail flights that make it possible for a letter to be sent from Tourcoing, on the Belgian border, and be delivered the following morning in Cerbère, on the Spanish border. This is a distance of nearly 685 miles (1,100 kilometers) and for a fee of just 0.25 NF. (new francs; about five cents U.S.). In 1960 over 11,000 tons of mail, or about one million letters, were handled by the French Inland airlines.
Great progress has been made in many countries as the postal system has become more modern in order to keep up with demands. The desire for our letters to reach their destination speedily is a natural one, and, happily, postal officials in many countries believe the time has come for the post office to deliver the mail as fast as possible.
IN A certain town in eastern Canada there are two grateful parents. They are grateful because they still have their seven-year-old daughter with them. And she might well have been dead two years ago, if it had not been for the fact that her parents refused to permit a certain neurosurgeon to give her blood transfusions. How so?
Well, the young girl had a brain tumor and the parents were told that their only hope lay in an operation in which blood transfusions were imperative. Because the parents had religious scruples against using blood, they looked elsewhere and got in touch
with a team of neurosurgeons of New York City who were willing to do their best without administering blood transfusions. Examining the child, they stated that the tumor was so deep in the brain that an operation would prove fatal. Instead, they instituted a series of treatments, including cobalt therapy, which have enabled the parents to enjoy having their daughter with them up until the present time.
Yet today there are not a few doctors that would have resorted to a court order to force through this operation, which operation—according to these specialists—would have been fatal. Fortunately for the parents and the child, the specialist first consulted did not feel called upon to proceed in such a manner.
Why should doctors be so dogmatic and
resort to court orders against the wishes of their patients when so often they are found to be mistaken in their judgments? It calls to mind the inspired axiom, "Knowledge puffs up." (1 Cor. 8:1) Yes, knowledge does have a tendency to puff up a man's ego and cause him to go contrary to the Scriptural counsel: "I tell everyone there among you not to think more of himself than it is necessary to think; but to think so as to have a sound mind." —Rom. 12:3.
Not an Exact Science
The professional man, by reason of his many years of special education—be it in law, theology or medicine—is prone to think rather highly of his judgment, especially as compared with others who have not had the same opportunities for acquiring such special knowledge, and upon whom he is inclined to look down as "laymen." True, a physician generally spends well upward of twenty years of his life in school, but he should never
forget that, not only is the state of medical knowledge incomplete, but so is his own fund of that knowledge. Furthermore, being an imperfect man, he is likely to err. In fact, there are ever so many unknown quantities in the treating of a disease—hereditary, psychological, environmental as well as physical—that the practice of any of the healing arts can by no means be termed an exact science. Besides, who is wholly without preconceived notions or prejudices?
For example, the editor of the medicolegal journal Trauma, February 1960, advises lawyers who have to deal with medical cases to do thorough research because of "the apparent conflicting nature of medical opinion." He goes on to observe that "it is frequently said that medicine is not an exact science. Most areas are gray, not black or white. It is, therefore, possible to find written authority for almost any premise the researcher seeks to establish." For example, he states that "it is possible to find an impressive array of articles advocating the use of the myelogram [a certain type of spinal X ray] in the diagnosis of intervertebral disc injuries. It is just as easy to find a similar group of articles which say that the myelogram should not be used for routine disc diagnosis."
He also warns against the changing nature of medical knowledge: "Be certain to use the latest edition of the text. By way of example, on at least one point which is of great interest to lawyers, the opinion expressed by Dr. [Paul Dudley] White in the fourth edition of his book [Heart Disease] is completely different from his opinion expressed in the third edition of the same book." And Dr. White is considered to be one of the top-ranking heart specialists in the United States.
Note, too, the report that appeared in the South African medicolegal publication Forensic Medicine, October-December 1964. It told of four physicians who took turns in checking whether the judgment of persons driving cars involved in automobile accidents was impaired by reason of taking liquor. Logic would seem to indicate that, since each examined every fourth driver, their findings would be quite similar, but not so. Two physicians found that only from 25 to 30 percent of the drivers had their judgment impaired because of liquor, whereas one found 70 percent and the other about 50 percent with judgment impaired. Not only that, but when two of the doctors were given the same 82 subjects to examine, what did they find? In 54 of the cases they were in agreement, but in the remaining 28 they came to opposite conclusions, the one finding only four with judgment impaired and 24 with judgment not impaired, whereas the other found 24 with judgment impaired and only four with judgment not impaired!
Similarly in one of the leading medical publications in the United States, New England Journal of Medicine, there appeared in the April 25, 1963, issue, the findings of Dr. R. M. Dowden, who told of good results in treating muscular dystrophy with certain medicines and physical therapy. But two years later, in the April 29, 1965, issue of the same magazine, Dr. Wm. M. Fowler, together with others, reported that, not only had the use of that medicine and physical therapy been without benefit, but the medicine recommended produced annoying side effects in a not inconsiderable number of cases.
That these disagreements among the medical profession are by no means rare can be seen from the following quotations, all taken from the section entitled "The Doctor in the Courtroom" of the professional journal Medical World News, the dates of the issues being shown:
"We [the Kentucky Court of Appeals] are constantly confounded (as indeed the workman's compensation boards must be) by the contradictory testimony of medical witnesses. When physicians representing both sides used [the same] x-rays but differ as to what the x-rays reveal, there is good reason for further inquiry. To put it mildly, something is wrong. We do not insinuate any chicanery."—May 7, 1965.
"Doctors Disagree over Compensation Claim."—November 19, 1965.
"It was noted that one medical expert had sald the effect stemmed from Linda's operation. The court thus held that while the operating physicians presented a vast amount of expert opinion to the contrary the jury was free to decide whom to believe. It then upheld the malpractice judgment and the $50,000 award."—December 3, 1965.
"Two Doctors Disagree in Disability Case. Once again—this time in Kentucky—a workman's compensation board had to choose between conflicting testimony of two physicians."—December 31, 1965.
"Impartial MD Testimony Ruled Not Necessary. In a case involving conflicting testimony, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that it is entirely up to the state's industrial commission to decide whether or not an impartial physician should be called to testify . . . There was sufficient evidence to support the award despite conflicting expert testimony."—January 28, 1966.
Disagreeing with General Medical Opinion
But the foregoing examples do not begin to present a complete picture, even though they do eloquently testify to the fact that the practice of medicine cannot be construed as an exact science and that modesty rather than dogmatism befits those who practice it.
The stark fact is that, time and time again, what is generally accepted, or what is the most commonly practiced thing in medicine is seriously challenged or severely condemned by those recognized as leaders and the foremost men of the medical profession. Thus, today, the usual way of dealing with breast cancer in women is what is known as radical surgery, in which the surgeon removes as much tissue as possible, on the premise that the more removed the less likely it is that the cancer will reappear. However, one of America's leading cancer surgeons, George Crile of Cleveland, Ohio, writing in Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, March 1964, tells of the result of observation for a number of years at a certain hospital.
According to him, the disfigurement, discomfort, restriction of movement and other distressing concomitants of radical surgery cannot be justified by the results. He and his colleagues found that simple surgery even had a slight advantage over radical surgery with radiation both as to survival of the patient and as to local recurrences of cancer. The most decisive factor was seen to be not the choice between radical surgery and simple surgery (in which only affected tissue is removed) but the stage of the cancer at the time the operation was performed.
And then there is the matter of blood transfusions. Concerning their widespread use, Dr. Walter Alvarez, one-time head and senior consultant of the Division of Medicine of the Mayo Clinic and since then Professor Emeritus of that noted medical institution, once said in a syndicated column: "The trouble with many of us physicians is that we tend to prescribe something that is customary at the time, and, with the best intentions, we tend to treat with excessive zeal . . . Of late many warnings have been uttered by many of our ablest teachers of medicine . . . It is really hard to understand why, when the risks are so great, thousands of us doctors keep ordering transfusions for patients who are not in . . . any great danger."
How correct Dr. Alvarez is about many doctors not appreciating the great risk that blood transfusions involve can be seen from the following advice by a doctor that appeared in a London newspaper: "Can we take Granny on the plane with us? Yes, although we should consider whether she needs a little blood transfusion to help her anemia before she makes such a long journey."
In fact, there are leading authorities in the healing profession who even take exception to much of the basic philosophy of their colleagues. One such is Karl Meninger, described as "dean of American psychiatrists." In Vital Balance, a book he wrote in collaboration with two others, Dr. Meninger states that mental illness is not a "thing" for which labels must be
found, such as psychotic, neurotic, schizophrenic, and so forth, as in the case of objects placed in a museum. According to him, a person suffering from mental illness is like a fish caught on a hook and his symptoms are merely the splashings trying to get off the hook. 'The splashings are not the disease nor the affliction.' Needless to say, the psychiatric profession, by and large, views matters differently.
dealing with those who have religious scruples against a certain medical procedure such as blood transfusions. A typical example of such misguided zeal was reported on in the public press last winter in this manner: "Mrs. Adelina Reyes, whose refusal as a member of the Jehovah's witnesses sect to submit to a blood transfusion led to a court order, was released from Green Hospital Thursday without having been given a transfusion. 'She feels great,' said Mrs. Reyes' son-in-law [himself not a Witness], who had
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More examples could be cited but the foregoing are sufficient to show that not only do individual members of the medical profession often disagree with one another but, time and again, the recognized leaders in the various fields take exception to what is the generally accepted practice of the rank and file of the medical profession. All of which is so much more reason why modesty befits the medical profession.
Misguided Zeal versus
Modesty and Empathy
Surely in view of the foregoing it would seem that modesty and empathy rather than misguided zeal should govern the members of the medical profession when
taken her to the hospital last Saturday after she began hemorrhaging in her home. . . Mrs. Reyes, 73, was admitted to the hospital in serious condition, hospital officials said, but refused a blood transfusion on religious grounds. Hospital officials said at the time that she would die without a transfusion. Dist. Judge Peter Michael Curry, acting on a legal action filed by the county health office, issued an order giving the hospital permission to give a transfusion if necessary."—San Antonio, Texas, Express, November 2, 1965.
Those physicians who, in due modesty and empathy, have respected the religious scruples of their patients in these matters have time and again been richly rewarded by the outcome. Thus there was Mrs. B of Oregon, who went to the hospital hemorrhaging profusely and who was to have a total hysterectomy. Certain doctors felt that she would die without a blood transfusion, but instead of getting a court order they got in touch with specialists in New York City to find out if there was something more that they could do. In the end they were able to restore Mrs. B—to health without resorting to blood transfusions.
Then, again, there was Mrs. J——, mother of four children, from three to nineteen years of age. She required an operation because of a greatly enlarged thyroid gland. A number of physicians and surgeons insisted that she would certainly die under the knife if she did not get blood transfusions (one of the doctors getting so mean as to accuse her of wanting to die), as hers was supposed to be a very "bloody" operation. But other doctors were willing to respect her convictions, and, as a result, she had a successful operation without resorting to blood transfusions. In fact, the operating surgeon stated that, by their exercising great care, not more than one-fourth of a cup of blood was lost during the operation.
The Overriding Principle
But even more than do modesty and empathy, the very principles of the basic laws of civilized countries dictate the restraint of misguided zeal in dealing with patients who have scruples against the use of blood transfusions. Clearly recognizing these principles is the ruling that was made by the Kansas Supreme Court on April 9, 1960, in deciding that it was necessary for a physician to inform a patient if serious dangers were involved in a certain treatment so as to get his consent. Among other things it stated:
to substitute his own judgment for that of the patient by any form of artifice or deception."—Medicolegal Digest, June 1960.*
"Anglo-American law starts with the premise of thorough-going self-determination. It follows that each man is considered to be master of his own body, and he may, if he is of sound mind, expressly prohibit the performance of life-saving surgery, or any other medical treatment. A doctor may well believe that an operation or form of treatment is desirable or necessary but the law does not permit him
It simply can be no other way. As Dr. Arthur D. Kelly, as general secretary of the Canadian Medical Association, once stated: "No doctor can be positive that a person will die if he doesn't get a transfusion or live if he does. That would attribute to doctors more wisdom than human beings possess." "I deplore methods of trying to force a transfusion or any kind of treatment. You're putting yourself in the position of God." And again: "It is perhaps better that the odd person die rather than the fundamental human right of refusing medical treatment be impaired. Right, wrong or maybe, the final decision in these matters should rest with the parent or guardian. Patients have the right to accept or reject a doctor's advice according to their own desires. A doctor has no right to insist you accept his advice."
The foregoing does not in any way imply that doctors are expected to perform operations under conditions that they themselves sincerely believe would spell failure. However, respect for the basic rights of the patient as well as modesty precludes taking steps to force a certain treatment upon a patient in violation of his religious scruples. And would not empathy indicate doing what can be done under the circumstances? True, this may at times result in the death of a patient whom the doctor thought could have been saved, but still the patient's right has been respected, and it must be admitted that there are times when, even after submitting to 'treatment that a doctor believes will succeed, the patient dies. Truly, modesty befits the medical profession!
TELEP
TELEPHONE calls made with the intention of harassing and terrorizing citizens are on the increase. Ralph McGill, publisher of the Atlanta Constitution, explained: "They team up on you, and call up with sometimes vicious, sometimes insulting, sometimes filthy comments. Teachers are harassed, public officials are harassed, plain citizens are harassed."
that HARASS and TERRORIZE
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-What Can Be Done About Them?
In a Mississippi town the wife of an FBI agent repeatedly received obscene, threatening calls. "Sure is a pretty little girl you've got," the voice on the other end of the line taunted. "Be a shame if something happened to her. If you want to keep them kids, honey, you'd better get out of here."
On another occasion, when her husband was away on assignment, she was awakened late at night. "This is the State Highway Patrol," a voice said. "Your husband was killed a while ago in a car accident. Where shall we deliver the body?" The wife was still in tears when she was assured a short time later by FBI headquarters that her husband was all right.
Although this is perhaps an extreme case, telephone calls designed to annoy, harass and intimidate are not uncommon. During the recent transit strike in New York City, the hospital where the now-deceased union official Michael Quill was temporarily confined was flooded with threatening calls. Many public officials learn to take such calls as a matter of course. "It's just one of those things you
put up with," a county judge in the southern United States explained.
Nature of the Calls
In comparatively few instances, however, do telephone calls to ordinary citizens involve direct threats. Often the phone will ring, and when it is answered there is no sound; only the ominous click as someone hangs up. Sometimes the caller moans and groans, or breathes heavily into the phone. Others scream, shout insults or make obscene remarks. When such calls are repeated throughout a night, or are continued over a period of weeks, they are annoying, if not, at the same time, frightening. Ordinary citizens are just not accustomed to that type of harassment.
Often the callers are youthful pranksters. It is their childish idea of a joke—but it is anything but funny. Sometimes the effects are fatal. For instance, last fall a fifteen-year-old boy called his Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, home, and told his mother he had been kidnapped. "If you want to see your boy alive again, don't call the cops," she was told. When the boy's father was informed at his place of employment, he collapsed and, four hours later, died.
His mother and aunt required medical attention. How foolish and unkind are telephone pranks designed to harass or scare others!
Of quite a different nature, but also a menace to society, are persons who call to obtain information with evil intent. The call may be made simply to see if anyone is at home. If there is, the person may immediately hang up, or say he has dialed the wrong number. Other callers obtain more information. For example, they may pose as a survey taker and say something like the following:
"Hello, is this Mrs. Jones? I am with the ___ Institute and we would appreciate your cooperation in an important survey we are conducting. Would you help us by answering a few questions?"
Upon obtaining an affirmative answer, the caller may continue in a professional manner. "Were you listening to the radio at the time of the call? You were. Do you also have a television? You do. How many in your household? Just you and your husband. What is your husband's occupation? A sales manager for ___. When you are home alone, what do you generally do for entertainment? Watch television. How often? Three or four nights a week. Do you have any pets? No. What time of the year do you prefer for vacations? Generally July. Are your valuables insured in your absence? They are. . . ."
In an endeavor to be helpful, persons have actually given complete strangers this much information, or even more. It is a terrible thought—yet, such a caller could be a criminal. If he is, and if he obtains such important information, it can be used to rob one's home, or commit some other crime.
many women that men who make such calls are loose on the streets. Such a man in St. Paul, Minnesota, poses as an undergarment salesman. He tells women that they have just won a free set of expensive undergarments, and then asks for their measurements. Apparently he derives some sort of pleasure from discussing these matters with women. Sometimes this type of caller says nothing, evidently getting a peculiar form of satisfaction from just listening to a woman's voice.
Apprehending the Caller
Women are often the target of another form of telephone terrorism—repeated lewd or obscene calls. It is frightening to
Unfortunately, it is not as easy as one might think to apprehend an anonymous caller. Police officials frankly admit that doing so is one of the most difficult assignments. It is true that where there are human telephone operators it is relatively simple for the operator, when alerted, to note where a call came from. However, in most places today, where automatic equipment is used, it takes ten to twenty minutes to trace calls under the simplest conditions and many hours to trace more complex ones, such as calls between cities. All during the tracing process, the connection must be maintained; as soon as the person hangs up, the tracing can no longer continue.
Because of the difficulty in tracing calls, the telephone company and the police will usually agree to help you only when they are convinced it is a serious matter. In some instances, if requested, a loudspeaker can be placed on your telephone line so that all calls coming to your home are heard at the telephone office. Thus, as soon as the harasser calls, there is an alert and someone begins tracing the call. Although he may not complete the job before the caller hangs up, the next time the harasser calls, tracing can start from where it was left off. In this way, tracing may be completed after three or four calls.
For conviction, of course, more is needed than locating the offending phone.
The culprit must be caught while speaking to the complainant. When this is done, the offender may, in certain places in the United States, be subject to a $5,000 fine and up to two years in prison. If more convictions were obtained, and greater publicity were given them, the increase in this type of telephone call would undoubtedly be curtailed.
What You Can Do
Since apprehending telephone harassers is so difficult, the best protection is to learn how to cope with their calls. Keep in mind that it is your phone, so use it on your terms. Since you would not reveal personal facts about yourself to a stranger on the street, do not do so to one who calls. Refuse to give any information until you are absolutely certain to whom you are speaking. Also, instruct your children and other members of the household not to give information to callers with whom they are not acquainted.
If a caller should ask, "Who is this?" "What number have I rung?" "Is your husband at home?" or some other such question, ask what number he is dialing and with whom he wishes to speak. Telephone cranks sometimes dial numbers at random; thus by giving your number and identifying yourself you may acquire a steady telephone nuisance.
If the person claims to represent some business or research organization, take his name and telephone number and say
you will call him back. Then check with the Better Business Bureau, telephone company or local chamber of commerce, which are usually in position to identify reputable firms.
When you answer, should the caller remain silent, breathe heavily or make an indecent or suggestive remark, hang up immediately. If you refuse to listen, he will probably soon tire of his game. To avoid lewd calls, some women list themselves in the phone book by only their first initial and last name. Many others have solved the problem by obtaining an unlisted number, which costs only a little more each month. Interestingly, there are some 350,000 unlisted numbers in New York City, and they are rapidly increasing.
If you are harassed at night, dial your own number, and then leave the receiver off the hook. This will produce a busy signal for which you will not be charged. Enjoy a good night's rest. Police advise not to worry about persons who call up and threaten you. Such persons rarely carry out their threats. To avoid unwanted calls during the day, some persons who are very hard pressed arrange to have their friends ring a certain number of times, hang up, and then, after perhaps thirty seconds, call again. These are the only calls they answer.
So although you may be among the many who receive telephone calls designed to harass and terrorize, do not panic. You can do something about them.
DOES IT SOUND GOOD TO YOU?
A popular magazine recently described a "delicacy" that is a specialty of a famous London, England, restaurant, with details designed to stimulate the appetite. It said: "Jugged hare must be made in a big fireproof jug with a lid—a casserole will do—In which it is slowly cooked with all the animal's blood and liver, with port or claret, peppercorns, mushrooms, shallots, cloves, apple slices, lemon, thyme, marjoram, oatmeal and forcemeat balls . . . the sauce is purple, rich, and immensely fragrant." Does that sound good to you? Not if you are a person who lives by the Bible, which pointedly instructs Christians to "abstain . . . from blood."—Acts 15:20.
THE time is rapidly passing in many offices when secretaries must fuss with carbon paper or cut stencils for mimeograph machines. A new industry that has grown up in the past seventeen years is revolutionizing office copying. It has brought to the office a quick and easy way to make copies of
letters, contracts, legal documents, invoices, memos, checks, financial reports, drawings and any number of other things. At the push of a couple of buttons a secretary can get a high-quality copy of whatever written material she wants duplicated in a matter of seconds.
Office copying machines have brought about this revolution. They have eliminated the need for darkrooms, an assortment of chemicals, elaborate camera and projection equipment and skilled operators for making photo copies of valuable papers. Besides being a great convenience, they often save time and money.
The popularity of copying machines is growing so rapidly that officials in the industry expect the income from them to reach 1,000,000,000 by 1969. Already they are bringing in about500,000,000 a year and are being used in 500,000 business offices. So confident is the SCM Corporation in the future of the machines that it has dropped out of the carbon-paper business and is placing emphasis on its copying machines.
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