Awake!, May 8, 1970

Download: PDF — Awake!, May 8, 1970

Awake! — May 8, 1970

Source: jw.org

Contents

The Growing Threat of Drug Abuse

Protect Your Family from Drug Abuse

Why There Was World War

Coping with Sinus Trouble

Child Growth

An Aerial Ship Railway

An African Wife Overcomes Reproach

The Loving Shepherd

Savor the Chinese Flavor

An Electrician Lets His Light Shine

Meet the Students of Gilead’s Forty-eighth Class!

Ability to Hear

Friendship with God’s Enemies?

Watching the World

For Those Who Believe the Bible

Now . . . You Can Understand the Bible Yourself

The Growing Threat of Drug Abuse

“WE ARE a drug-dependent society,” “a drug-obsessed society,” say authorities. Millions of people cannot sleep, wake up or feel comfortable anymore without the help of drugs. Great numbers of adults pop pills into their mouths for whatever ails them. Medicine cabinets are stocked with medicines: diet pills, stomach soothers, sleeping tablets, tranquilizers, barbiturates, amphetamines, laxatives and pain-killers. A popular opinion is that there must be “a pill for every woe.”

There were 12,000,000,000 amphetamine and barbiturate tablets and 50,000,000 tranquilizers manufactured in the United States in a single year. The United States Food and Drug Administration says that each year the thousands of millions of pep pills diverted to illegal use and ultimate misuse could “keep everyone in the United States awake and jumping for a week” and the barbiturates could “keep them in a stupor for a week.”

The extent of drug use among young people is substantial. Police officials estimate that between 15 and 50 percent of the teen-agers in any suburban American community may be experimenting with marijuana and other drugs. In some large universities, surveys indicate that 10 to 30 percent of the students have dabbled in drugs at least once. The extent of drug abuse by elementary- and high-school students is not known, but is reported to be significant and on the increase.

In a small American town, fifteen high-school children were arrested for using marijuana. One father, a church deacon, was the supplier. Five New England prep-school boys got thrown out of school for drug use; one of them was the son of a United States congressman. The children of two senators have been arrested on marijuana charges, as have the sons of a California assemblyman and an actor.

School investigations have revealed, among other things, that children as young as thirteen were “shooting” a stimulant called Methedrine beneath their tongues so the needle marks would not show. A survey in one school revealed that 18 percent of the boys and 12 percent of the girls in the seventh grade had at least experimented with marijuana. Washington’s District of Columbia Addiction Center has uncovered marijuana users as young as eight years old.

Where and how do children become involved in drug abuse? Primarily in the schools. Children themselves refer to the schools as the “supermarket centers” for drugs during the school term and the city streets and parks at other times. Here is what some of them have to say.

A seventeen-year-old Connecticut lad said: “I was just entering high school when I was first exposed to drugs. Almost every person in school knows someone who sells drugs, whether or not he uses them. The funniest part of the whole thing is that it’s all done in the open. It’s stored in the students’ lockers. You would be shocked to see the dealers’ lockers stacked full of ‘nickel’ and ‘dime’ bags of ‘pot’ [marijuana].”

Said a teen-ager: “The first time I was invited to indulge in marijuana was in my sophomore year. Many of my friends were trying it, simply out of curiosity. After a while I took it.”

A boy from Detroit, Michigan, writes: “In my biology class last semester there was this kid who said to me, if I ever changed my mind and wanted drugs, he would give them to me cheap.”

An eighteen-year-old youth from New Haven, Connecticut, wrote: “I first started using drugs when I was 16 years old in New York city. While in school, a friend of mine convinced me that harder drugs were the ‘hip’ thing.”

A girl in San Francisco writes: “When I was a sophomore, a green cigarette was placed on my desk. I was shocked when I learned it was marijuana. The boys dared me to smoke it.”

Reports are generally the same whether from New York or San Francisco—the schools are a major spawning center for drug addiction. But what many young people are not fully convinced of is the extent to which various drugs are harmful and dangerous.

Is marijuana dangerous? The answer is, Yes. Many are the persons who suffer adverse effects. A sixteen-year-old Maryland youth said he was quitting marijuana “because I can’t remember things anymore.” Another person “smoked one cigarette and became restless, agitated, dizzy, fearful of his surroundings, afraid of death, and had three short attacks of unconsciousness.” Marijuana impairs judgment and distorts vision, hearing and sense of time and distance practically in every user. And in the majority of cases where stronger drugs were taken, it was admitted that smoking marijuana definitely paved the way. Is that what one might call a safe drug?

Hallucinogens like LSD are known to have caused permanent change of personality, human chromosome damage, unpredictable behavior leading to suicide attempts and psychological dependence. Depressants (barbiturates) can cause delirium, hallucinations, convulsions and coma. Stimulants (amphetamines) can cause permanent change of personality. Heroin destroys willpower, causes extreme restlessness, severe aches and pains and death from overdosage. Sniffing solvents damages the liver and kidneys and quite often leads to death.

What can parents do to protect their children from mind-affecting drugs? What can children do to protect themselves from the drug-enslaving influence sweeping the world? There are some specific things parents and children can and should do now. The following article tells what these are.

Protect Your Family from Drug Abuse

What can parents do to help children face the drug-abuse problem? What has proved a remedy?

WAKE up, parents! The drug problem is here. It is big, and is growing bigger.

A generation ago many young boys secretly smoked cigarettes behind the family house or barn. Today far too many youths have taken to dangerous drugs and narcotics. The cigarettes smoked by their parents caused innumerable deaths by lung cancer. The drugs offered by “friends” at school may also represent a step toward personal destruction.

Generally drugs are not offered to parents. Not having had experience with them, they need to learn what to watch for, and how to warn their children. Thus, some specific examples will be of value to conscientious parents and children alike.

In Los Angeles young Jafus said a friend had offered him drugs in the washroom of his high school. How was the temptation presented? “Come on over here and try this,” the friend urged. “It’ll make a man out of you. It’ll make you feel good.” On another occasion in a neighborhood laundromat a “pusher” of drugs boasted how easily he made money, and invited Jafus to his home where he said he had a big bowl of marijuana and a big jar of “reds” (seconal). What should be done in such cases? What Jafus says he did was this: “I got out of there as fast as I could.”

In talking with students it becomes evident that drugs are available in many schools. Marijuana is smoked in washrooms. Pills are frequently seen. One Los Angeles family wondered why their son rushed straight to the bathroom every day after school. Then they found out that he would not go to the rest room at school because of the drug use and other immoral practices there. It is reported that in Los Angeles juvenile arrests for dangerous drugs increased 247 percent between 1967 and 1968!

Better Protected

When one is speaking with young persons who have had these experiences, one fact stands out: On the whole, the children of Jehovah’s witnesses, known for their high moral principles, do not have as great a problem as other students. When a student refused a barbiturate with the comment, “I’m one of Jehovah’s witnesses,” he was told: “We don’t have anything to do with you anyway.” The “pusher” walked away.

Fifteen-year-old Marilyn knew that drugs were common in her school. But no one had ever offered any to her. Why not? “Well those people hang around in specific crowds, and if you are not in a crowd with them they usually won’t bother you.”

A Witness, whose son was in a school where a large number of students had been arrested for drug violations, asked his son: “Has anyone ever offered dope to you?” No one had. “Have you ever seen any?” The son had not.

Why not? The fact is that there are persons to whom one usually does not propose certain things. Even youths show, by their actions, what principles they have. Children reared in families where Biblical principles really are taught have a great advantage, for their high moral standards are often well known by other youths. Thus, Witness children are usually not approached by drug users as are other children. Their living by Bible principles serves as a protection for them.

Inculcate Spiritual Values

Many youths who have taken drugs say they are dissatisfied with the terrible world conditions and the materialistic pursuits of their parents. One high-school graduating senior put it this way: “Most kids feel no real purpose in living, except enjoying today. They think all these pressures of ‘making it’ in jobs just seem sort of stupid.” A young couple who overcame their drug habit said: “Kids today are fed up with the system. That’s why they take drugs—it’s an escape. . . . Their hang-up is the hypocrisy of today’s world.”

Dorin, who was thirteen when she started on drugs, remarked: “The kids nowadays have nothing to believe in, like me, I had nothing to believe in. I lived to get ‘high.’ I couldn’t care less whether I lived or died.” Then, referring to her present life as one of Jehovah’s witnesses, she added: “Now I’ve found something to hold onto, something that really makes life worth while. Before, life was nothing. I would say to parents, Bring your children up right. Give them something to believe in, something to hold onto.”

The key is the teaching of children Bible principles, giving them something solid to believe in. The hearts of mankind, and especially youths, cry out for peace, security, health and life. They want to live without the threat of war, famine and disease. God’s Word the Bible invites them: “Trust in Jehovah and do good . . . and he will give you the requests of your heart.” (Ps. 37:3, 4) Jehovah will satisfy the requests of the hearts of all those trusting in him by providing for them a new order wherein “righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Pet. 3:13) In that new order Jehovah will even satisfy the heart’s desire for perfect health and endless life. For “he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more.” (Rev. 21:4) What a marvelous hope this is! It is something youth can believe in and develop a keen desire for, because it is promised by Jehovah, the God “who cannot lie.”—Titus 1:2.

Give youths, then, the Bible’s grand hope for the future. Also, good parental training, as well as personal application of God’s Word, is vital in encouraging children to avoid the bad habit of taking drugs.

Talk to Your Child

Parents should talk with their children about the problem of drug abuse. Communication is vital. (Deut. 6:6, 7; Prov. 22:6) During a discussion, you might ask calmly and sympathetically, not reproachfully, if he has ever been with those who have experimented with drugs. Often a young person in the initial state of drug abuse will want to talk about it to ease his conscience.

The way you talk with your children is very important. (Eph. 6:4) Do not nag or berate them. Said a former addict: “Principle and logic are the only things that will appeal to them. Emotionalism doesn’t work. I think that the first thing parents should do is to explain from the Bible, using principles, why it is wrong to use drugs. First of all, in America it is against the law to possess certain drugs. So, if you possess them you are breaking the Bible’s law by not being in subjection to the ‘superior authorities.’ (Rom. 13:1) Further, by seeking drugs you have to mingle with people who deal with the stuff. You are having bad associations, so that is in violation of Christian principles. (1 Cor. 15:33) Also you are being ‘a lover of pleasures,’ and it becomes an all-out thing to find drugs. (2 Tim. 3:4) You are developing bad habits, not offering yourself as a sacrifice ‘living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason.’”—Rom. 12:1.

Summing up, this former addict said: “I think parents should explain it on the basis of principles, not emotionalism.”

The lessons here to be learned are that Bible principles inculcated in youths early in life, plus intelligent, factual and sympathetic counseling by parents, are what children need to safeguard them from drug abuse.

Parents, Be Good Listeners

In talking with their children, parents should also listen carefully when their children speak. By listening you can tell where they spend their time and with whom. Often children are introduced to drugs through a close associate whom they regard as a “friend.” A former addict who is now one of Jehovah’s witnesses said: “In my experience with drugs, in the almost five years that I was using them, I never met anybody that was coerced into trying them for the first time. You just don’t give it away free unless it is a good friend of yours, or you’ve got a lot on hand and you give away a tiny bit. People take it of their own volition.” Listening to your child may help you to protect him from such so-called friends.

A father who conducted interviews with former addicts remarked: “This is a very interesting point. Both of the habitual drug takers I interviewed had taken drugs deliberately, out of curiosity or interest. No one had tried to force them. The point is a very important one as far as ‘prevention’ goes. We have to develop a strong motivation toward right-mindedness and Biblical principles. Among people who have this motivation the drug problem seems to be a very minor one. Often they aren’t even approached by other young persons who use drugs.”

Young Persons Stress Prevention

Youths emphasize a close parent-child relationship as a safeguard against drug abuse. A former drug addict stressed: “A close and constant relationship between the parents and their children is the best preventive medicine.” The Bible, too, says it is a safeguard. (Prov. 6:20-22) What is your relationship with your child?

A family Bible study obviously plays a vital part in protecting youths against drug addiction. For it is in such Bible study that right principles are explained and meaningful goals are brought into focus. A young man writes about the results of his Bible study: “What a wonderful change it made in our lives! The so-called drug-induced ‘spiritual experiences’ look hollow when compared to any hour of our present lives.”

The encouragement here is to follow Bible principles as a way of life. To this end, invite Jehovah’s witnesses to study the Bible with you as millions of others have; this service they do freely and gladly. The outcome may prove most rewarding to you now and in the years to come.—John 17:3.

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The key to protecting children against drugs is to teach them Bible principles

Why There Was World War

SARAJEVO, Serbia, Franz Ferdinand, Pan-Slavism, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gavrillo Prinzip, Montenegro—strange names, strange places to many today, but over a half century ago they had acquired a fatal familiarity for people everywhere, as the nations were swept into the world’s worst war up to that time.

Had you been living in the springtime of 1914, you would hardly have suspected that the world you knew so well would soon be blasted and disfigured. True, the world was still keeping a watchful eye on the “cockpit of Europe”—the Balkans—where local wars had recently ended. But to all intents the world was at peace and would remain at peace in the foreseeable future.

What, then, were the events and circumstances, the attitudes and policies that ignited this conflagration—a holocaust that scorched and charred most of the nations of the world?

The immediate cause was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. But how could one assassination have such far-reaching consequences? Well, the victim was heir presumptive to the thrones of Austria and Hungary. His assassin, Gavrillo Prinzip, a young Serbian student, shot him to death as he rode through Sarajevo. The motive? Even at this late date the question is largely undetermined. But from this incident stemmed a train of events that had the whole world embroiled in war within a few short weeks.

The Austro-Hungarian government made demands upon the government of Serbia. The Great Powers—Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain—found themselves unable or unwilling to act for prevention of a general European war. Instead, all the latent forces that had been gathering for decades and even centuries seemed to have found an outlet. The result—WAR! What, then, were those forces that produced the horrors of war? Let us examine the four most important and influential—entangling alliances, nationalism, imperialism, militarism—and assess the part each played.

Entangling Alliances

Dangerously, a series of alliances had lined up the nations into two rival power groups. France had suffered defeat in the Franco-Prussian war that ended in 1871. Germany initiated some of these alliances so as to isolate France and prevent her from taking revenge. First came a dual alliance with Austria-Hungary, followed by a triple alliance to include Italy. These, coupled with an agreement with Russia, seemed to leave France alone, helpless. Though largely secret as to terms, it was well known that these treaties provided for mutual assistance in event of war.

The accession of new leaders in Germany also swiftly changed the picture. William II was now emperor and Bismarck was dropped as chancellor. The new emperor failed to keep up friendship with Russia and alarmed Great Britain by his “saber rattling.” His program of naval expansion and demand for “a place in the sun” forced England to reassess her long-standing rivalry with France. Developments in the Far East, notably the Russo-Japanese war, had meantime softened British ill-feeling toward Russia. Thus the second power group took form—Russia, France, Great Britain.

So, in 1914, the powers of Europe were balanced off, three against three. Many felt that such a balance of power was the strongest assurance of peace. The events were to prove them wrong.

Nationalism

Were we to examine a map of the world as it was in the spring of 1914 and compare it with a modern map, we would see that it has undergone drastic changes as far as political boundaries are concerned. In what way, then, we might ask, did the location of boundaries in 1914 contribute to the start of the war?

First, it would be noted that the then existing empire of Austria-Hungary included many subject nationalities who resented their lack of national sovereignty. This was specially so in the Balkans, where Serbia wanted all Slavic peoples in the area under her jurisdiction. But Austria-Hungary had just recently annexed the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite their having a Slavic population. Russia’s dream of a Pan-Slavic union of some sort was also given a setback. So Russia felt obligated to back the Serbians.

In western Europe, meanwhile, there was another bone of contention. At the end of the Franco-Prussian war the victorious Germans had seized two provinces, formerly held by France—Alsace and Lorraine. French resentment smoldered over the loss of these strategic and commercially valuable territories. Then, too, Poland had lost to Germany (Prussia) sections of her Slav-populated territory, thus creating a sore spot with Russia. And Russia’s aim to expand toward warm-water ports on the Aegean Sea as well as on the Adriatic were blocked.

If we add to the above the national aspirations of such other states as Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, we can see that nationalism, as a disturbing factor, loomed large in the early 1900’s. Each ethnic group felt justified in seeking to achieve the liberation and the unity of all their kinsmen.

Imperialism

Not to be overlooked in the developments leading up to 1914’s debacle is the creation of the new national states of Germany and Italy during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Previously they had been loosely knit associations of petty states. Now, united and therefore stronger, they were disturbing to the older, better established states of France and Great Britain. The older powers had already seized large areas of the world as colonies from which to obtain the raw materials for burgeoning industries. Their early start had left only scraps for the newcomer states.

A look again at the world map of 1914 will show that such countries as Italy and Germany did hold overseas territories. Still, the best and the largest were in the hands of the British and French. By 1900, in Africa alone, these two powers controlled over five and a half million square miles of territory, having a population of over sixty-seven million. Germany and Italy, on the other hand, could claim only one and a half million square miles with about twelve million people.

Such great disparity led the Germans to demand a “place in the sun” in order that they might reap the supposed benefits of a large overseas empire—raw materials, monopolistic markets, controlled investment areas and added manpower. Lacking these advantages, the ‘have-not’ nations felt they were seriously handicapped in the competition of an increasingly industrialized world.

The ambitions of imperialism were not confined to the colonial field. They included, too, the desire to build up spheres of influence in regions adjacent to the homeland. For example, Russia’s desire to dominate in the Balkans was matched by Austria’s ambitions in the same area. Germany promoted the Berlin-Baghdad railway, with a view to tapping the wealth of the Middle East, and thereby threatened the British position there. Russia, too, was pressuring Turkey for a share in control of the Dardanelles, so that she might have an outlet for her shipping.

Italy had aims, not only in Africa, but also on the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea, which she hoped one day to convert into an ‘Italian lake.’ This placed Italy in competition with Russia, Serbia, Montenegro and Austria. France, in her efforts to improve her position in North Africa, offended Germany and Italy, both of whom entertained hopes with respect to Libya, Algeria and Morocco. Imperialism thus produced a maze of conflicting aspirations and created an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust.

Militarism

Another powerful contributing factor leading inexorably to war was the development of military machines in all countries of Europe. After the Franco-Prussian war all the European nations adopted the German plan for universal military conscription. Thus by 1914 there were approximately three and a half million men in the standing armies and millions more in the trained reserves.

Each nation, of course, claimed that its preparations were merely for defensive purposes. Statesmen, too, were less willing to negotiate in good faith as long as they felt they had some military might back of them. But perhaps the most dangerous effect was the frame of mind this building up of armaments developed. In his book, The Roots and Causes of the Wars, J. S. Ewart declared: “Militarism is an attitude of approval of war as an elevating, ennobling occupation.” In each country the aim was carefully to prepare the population, physically and mentally, for the eventuality of war.

Thus, when Serbia angered Austria, Austria determined to punish Serbia, but then Russia backed Serbia, thus seemingly threatening Austria. Austria sought German support, while Russia, in turn, invoked French aid, and finally Great Britain came to the support of France. The wheels were turning and the world slipped mindlessly into war, without regard to the awful consequences.

The Consequences

And what were the consequences? The total cost of the war has been set at $337,980,579,657. The total dead reached the staggering figure of 13,000,000, with an additional 28,000,000 casualties. But did this vast expenditure of blood and treasure bring about any good and permanent results? Was there any basis for the boast of one author in 1918 who wrote: “Even the most practical money changer . . . must agree that the blood was well shed, the treasure well spent. . . . Millions of gallant, eager youths learned how to die fearlessly and gloriously. They died to teach vandal nations that nevermore will humanity permit the exploitation of peoples for militaristic purposes . . . [this resulted in] the spread of enlightened liberty and the destruction of autocracy.”

How far wrong that 1918 assessment was has been demonstrated by world events since. The war had not made the world safe for democracy. The war to end war had not been fought. Instead, it led only to an intensification and a multiplication of problems. The 1920’s saw the collapse of most of the economies of the world, followed by depressions and the rise of dictatorships in the 1930’s. Then came World War II, which in reality was only an extension of the first world war. And this war was just as barren of results as its predecessor. This war, too, ended on a hopeful note, but disillusionment soon came.

The decades since have seen only a continuation of wars, depressions, international tensions and anarchy on an ever-increasing scale. Despite all efforts to create a stable world society through international agencies like the League of Nations after World War I or the United Nations after World War II, world conditions go on deteriorating.

In his book In Flanders Fields, Leon Wolff had this to say about World War I and its results: “It had meant nothing, solved nothing, and proved nothing. . . . The moral and mental defects of the leaders of the human race had been demonstrated with some exactitude.” The same could be said about World War II. Even the churches have failed to arrest the downward course of events. P. W. Hausman, writing in The Encyclopedia Americana (1941 edition), said: “The world could not avoid war as long as it remained on the level of warfare. Ours was not a Christian world. And while the national pulpits preached Christianity [of their own brand], nations eyed each other, ready for blood.” Is the future any brighter?

The Future

During all those painful decades multitudes have wondered about the ultimate outcome. As far back as the closing years of the nineteenth century some wondered if there might not be some connection between world troubles and Bible prophecy. Said the editors of a 1914 publication: “The old theory that the earth is finally destroyed by one vast conflagration is brought vividly to mind when we behold the flames of war bursting out at once over nearly the whole of Europe, as if civilization and all peaceful progress were doomed.” But that war did not prove to be the Armageddon of Bible prophecy.

However, it is true that sincere Bible students did find evidence in the Bible’s own pages that the year 1914 was a marked year in human history. Unlike most other peoples today, these Bible students have also found the reason why human efforts go on failing to resolve the problems of peace and war among men. More important, they have found that the Bible holds forth promise that these conditions of woe and trouble on earth will shortly be terminated and replaced by a world system of things in which all the fondest hopes of peace-loving men and women will be realized.

But how will that come about? Not as a result of wars such as World Wars I and II, but by the power of Almighty God. (Rev. 21:1-4) A world without pain, sorrow or even death! No more wars such as have plagued mankind for some 4,000 years—only everlasting peace! Would you not want to live in such a world? If you would, direct your attention to the Bible, for it is the only true source of information that will enable you to attain that happy goal.

Coping with Sinus Trouble

DO YOU have headaches on cloudy days? Do you have trouble with nasal catarrh or a “runny nose”? Are you likely to blame these conditions on your sinuses? If so, you may be right, but, then again, you may be mistaken.

In fact, Dr. A. P. Seltzer, an authority on sinus conditions, found that, of a thousand persons who felt they had trouble with their sinuses, only 12 percent actually did. But whether you have trouble with your sinuses or not, information about them should prove of interest and may even be of help to you.

Just what are the sinuses? A sinus is simply “a recess, cavity or hollow space.” There are many sinuses in our bodies, but the most notable of these are the four pairs of sinuses situated close to or connected with the nasal cavity. These are known as the “paranasal” sinuses, and it is only these that are being considered here.

Their Location

The largest of these sinuses are two pyramid-shaped ones, located on each side of the nose, in the upper jawbone. These sinuses reach from just above the roots of the upper teeth to the eye sockets. In the average adult they involve a little more than a cubic inch of space.

Smaller in size are the frontal sinuses, which are located in the forehead above the eyes. Behind these frontal sinuses, but on a lower level, are a pair of sinuses situated in the ethmoid or ‘sievelike’ bone. Each of these sinuses actually consists of a labyrinth of cells, from as few as three to as many as eighteen. Another pair of sinuses are located behind the ethmoid sinuses and on a still lower level, in fact, near the base of the skull.

Regarding these sinuses we are told that there is no such thing as uniformity in their size, shape and number. Except, perhaps, that usually they occupy the same amount of space whether they consist of many cells or compartments or only a few.

Purpose Served

What is the purpose served by all these hollows, cavities, recesses or sinuses? While there are some who doubt that they serve any purpose, even as many long held that the thymus gland served no purpose, it does seem reasonable to those who believe in a Creator that they have a reason for existence as does every other part of the human body.

For one thing, they lighten the weight of our skulls. Further, our sinuses without a doubt improve the resonance of our voices, as they allow the bones of the skull to vibrate more readily. Our sinuses most likely help to moisten the air we breathe as well as to warm it, for good ventilation is needed in our sinuses if we would enjoy good health. And not a few hold that our sinuses help the body to get rid of waste matter, such as phlegm or mucus.

Why Sinus Trouble?

Sinusitis has no typical symptoms peculiar to it, so it is not always easy to tell whether one has sinusitis or not. Why this is so is clear when we note that generally sinusitis is secondary to some other condition, most usually the common cold or infection of the upper nasal passages. Thus headaches, fever, dizziness, loss of appetite or one’s sense of smell, and so forth, may or may not indicate sinusitis.

Why do our sinuses, or more strictly speaking, the membranes of our sinuses, give us trouble at times? Because of excessive discharges from them or because of the closing of their ducts leading to the nose or throat due to their being inflamed. Among the more immediate causes are growths or polyps that close the ducts leading from the sinuses or, more often, inflammation of the nose, which may spread to the mucous membranes of the sinuses.

A tendency to inflammation of the membranes may be inherited. Then again, unfavorable prenatal conditions may have given us a bad start, as may lack of proper food or lack of loving parental care in early childhood. Lack of control of the emotions may be an inducing cause, even as excessive worrying, tensions and frictions with those with whom we live or work can be. Sinusitis may also be triggered by extremes of humidity or temperature to which one is not accustomed.

One’s sinus trouble may be due to a generally debilitated condition caused by a serious illness or due to overindulgence in enervating pleasures. It may be caused by allergies, infections and improper eating habits, lack of exercise and not getting enough rest and sleep. All such things can cause acute sinusitis, which, if unchecked or not cured, can result in the more stubborn but less pronounced chronic sinusitis.

What Can Be Done About It?

As with other health problems, prevention comes first. Well has it been observed, “It is the ounce of prevention that is the most significant factor in health.”

Get sufficient rest and sleep as well as plenty of fresh air. Eat wholesome food, and do not overload your system. It is well to adopt some regimen of exercise, especially if yours is a sedentary occupation, so that you can enjoy a feeling of well-being. Sinus sufferers often are very suggestible, so they may need to put forth a special effort to develop wholesome mental and emotional habits.

Guard against having rooms too warm and dry—better comfortably cool than luxuriously warm. Eliminate tobacco if you are a smoker and cut down on alcoholic beverages if you are very fond of them.

Among remedies recommended are taking in sufficient liquids such as water or fruit juices—not beer and coffee! Hot compresses, hot steam or sauna baths and the use of the enema to help the body clean out waste matter are recommended by some authorities. Especially is cutting down on rich and highly refined foods urged by those who view sinus trouble as an effort on the part of the body to throw off waste matter.

One nature doctor recommends the onion poultice. (Chop onions fine, place between two pieces of gauze and bind around the neck when going to bed.) Others advocate inhaling hot water vapor.

The medical practitioner may well recommend some of the foregoing as well as prescribe decongestants and antihistamines. Decongestants reduce the swelling of the membranes, but if given as drops or sprays, they should not be administered more than ten days in a row. Especially is caution indicated in their use in patients with high blood pressure. In more severe cases a doctor may prescribe antibiotics and aspirin or something stronger to relieve the pain. In chronic cases some may advise an operation, but more so in times past than now.

The chiropractor, on the other hand, proceeds on the premise that sinusitis is a case of hypersensitivity, especially involving the sympathetic nervous system. He treats sinusitis both locally, by manipulating the vertebrae, where lie the nerves leading to the head, and systemically, by seeking to improve the general health of the patient as a whole. More and more chiropractors apply pressure to the sinuses and concern themselves with nutrition when treating sinusitis.

There are other approaches too. But after all is said and done it cannot be stressed too strongly that moderation and self-control are basic. He who gives thought to sound nutrition, adequate exercise, sufficient rest and sleep and proper mental and emotional habits is practicing preventive medicine as regards his sinuses.

Most persons appear to be more neglectful of their bodies than they are of their automobiles. Yet the laws of cause and effect work as inexorably in the case of one as in the case of the other, and of how infinitely much more value are their bodies than their autos! This principle applies not only to sinusitis but to every other ill that afflicts the human race. Not without good reason has an authority on sinusitis noted: “First in importance here as elsewhere is the general health of the person, since the normal activity of all mucous tissues depends largely upon the well-being of the body as a whole.”

Child Growth

● Did you know that a child’s head grows upward and outward in perfect balance until it is double its original size? The arms grow to four times their original length, while the legs grow to five times what their length was at birth. The trunk becomes three times as long as when the baby was born. All this marvelous growth takes place gradually over a period of time until the babe has become a full-grown man or woman. That is the way the Creator designed the process of human growth.

An Aerial Ship Railway

By “Awake!” correspondent in Belgium

A 1,350-ton ship floating along sixty feet above the solid earth! And without any of the traditional canal locks! No, you are not imagining things. You are at Ronquières in Belgium.

Between Brussels and Charleroi this vital link in an international waterway enables boats and barges of up to 1,350 tons to clear, in one stride, so to speak, a difference in water levels of 223 feet. But how do they take ships from one level to the other without locks and a water channel?

Instead of an aerial water channel here, there are parallel railroad tracks, each having four rails. Huge water containers, metal, and having a water capacity varying in depth from 9 to 12 feet, run on these tracks, each equipped with a roller train consisting of 236 28-inch diameter pulleys. Each pulley is capable of carrying a load of 22 tons. Six electric motors, developing a total force of 1,000 horsepower, operate eight two-inch-thick cables, each about one mile long. By these the water containers are raised or lowered on the inclined railway track.

The docks at the two extremities of the project, upstream and downstream, measure 1,000 feet long by 200 feet wide. The containers, 300 feet long by 39 feet wide, are lodged in the prolongation of these docks, and can be maneuvered independently of one another—one ascending while the other descends, for example. Each container can take either one 1,350-ton ship or several barges.

The vessel floats into the submerged container at one end of the project, upon which both the canal and container gates are closed. The container then carries its floating load either up or down the slope separating the two levels. At the other end the canal and container gates open and the vessel continues on its way. When in operation the weight of one container varies between 5,000 and 5,700 tons.

To assure the junction between the upper embankment and the actual inclined plane, there is a canal bridge 950 feet long, supported by seventy 6-1/2-foot diameter columns, each 63 feet high. The overall aerial portion of this undertaking stretches over a distance of some 2,300 feet. Thus you can view the spectacular sight of ships floating along, up above the solid ground!

Special care was taken not to impair the beauty of the surroundings. But there were more serious problems to be foreseen and provided for. Should there be a failure of outside electrical supply, for example, the installation has its own hydroelectric powerhouse. All the intricate operations, especially when traffic is heavy, are easily supervisable from a distance by television screens. The ‘brain’ of the inclined plane is housed upstream in a control room surmounted by a 410-foot tower.

The effects of frost are kept in check by covering the outside walls of the containers with thermal insulating material. To avoid skidding in cold weather, there is a system of defrosting the cables. Safety pulleys or rollers control the movement of the containers. The movement of the water and the vessels in the containers was one of the most delicate problems that had to be solved.

A compensation system automatically corrects any possible unevenness in the ground below or in the inclined rails. Automatic bolts prevent any false maneuvers. In periods of drought, supplementary reservoirs guarantee the water supply for the whole project, and could, if required, keep it going for a month.

This outstanding engineering production has permitted the number of locks on the Brussels-Charleroi canal to be cut from fifty-five to ten. It has cut in half the time needed to cover the distance between Charleroi and Antwerp, thereby reducing the transportation costs by more than 60 cents a ton.

The entire complex has also become an interesting tourist attraction, bringing each year an influx of thousands of visitors. In 1968 there were more than 250,000, most of whom enjoyed the unforgettable panorama that can be viewed from the top of the large tower.

An African Wife Overcomes Reproach

As told to “Awake!” correspondent in Liberia

I WAS one of thirteen children born to my father by his three wives. I have lingering memories of a happy childhood, fishing, swimming and snail hunting in the large creek near my home—a thatched hut in a large African village. What good times I had with my girl friends washing clothes in the stream! Little did I know that the creeks were becoming infested with parasites small enough to pass through the skin and affect a girl’s ability to bear children—her main role in life in Africa.

My family believed that all the activities of life were controlled by mysterious genies or spirits. One of them, I was told, had granted me remarkable success in catching fish. The help of those genies depended on keeping their laws. So, when I got sick one day, the local native woman zo, a sort of doctor, told my parents that the law of the genie had been violated by someone beating me over the head. Washing my body in some kind of herbal solution was supposed to restore good relations with my genie.

In a vague way I knew there was some great Spirit who had made all things. But I did not know anything about praying to this unknown power. Nor did I know how death had first entered the human scene. Calamity was always attributed to a witch, such as the one thought responsible for the death of my younger brother. On that sad event father acted immediately to protect the rest of his family. He had to carry rice, white cola and other items to the native doctor, who then sacrificed a chicken under a big tree and prepared a concoction of medicine to ward off evil.

Now, what do you think my parents expected to take place? They believed that the guilty witch would suffer a calamity—he would dream of being beaten by a stronger witch. Sickness would follow, and eventually he would confess. Thus justice would be satisfied, for the dream-beating and sickness were considered due punishments for the crime. But to avoid more beatings, the guilty witch would have to pay a fee to the native doctor. The only one who really benefited was the doctor, for he received fees from both parties. Meantime, my little brother was gone and nobody offered any hope that we would ever see him again.

“When You Marry”

While I was still young, mother gave me advice whereby I might avoid the grief she suffered through most of her married life. She was the first woman that father had dowried, so she was rightly the head wife, and she was valued as a fruitful bearer of children. But unhappily father later acquired other women in accord with the prevailing custom.

Though father loved his second wife more than he did the others, she was also popular with other men, and father never could bring himself to put her away for unfaithfulness. This situation caused mother to vow she would never again share her bed with father; she would remain in the household as though a widow. Then came the crisis when the third wife, the one who had to do all the hard work, decided to leave.

Tearfully mother revealed how father’s smooth talk had brought about this heartache. When mother was the only wife, father had persuaded her to take a pot as dowry gift and offer it to a young girl so that she might become his secondary wife. Father claimed this would be to mother’s advantage, since the drudgery of drawing water and other heavy work would pass to the second woman. But now, bitterly, she counseled me: “My daughter, never engage any girls for your husband and get yourself into this situation. When you marry, your husband should love you alone and no others!”

Training in a Bush School

When I was twelve I left home for a year of training in a bush school—training that would prepare me for marriage and motherhood. I was anxious to excel, to be knowledgeable, so that I might please my future husband in every way.

The woman’s Sande society provides for this instruction to be given many young girls in a secluded area of the forest. For the entire period we were completely cut off from our families. We were considered as dead, swallowed up by the female “devil” or forest spirit. Our return home would be viewed as emerging from death as new creatures.

At school my aunt, who was a zo, began training me to be a zo also. This would prepare me to be a big queen in the woman’s society and an authority on bush medicine. So I learned much about various leaves and herbs. The other girls were taught useful arts such as cotton spinning, basketmaking and weaving.

Emphasis was laid on our developing respect and humility before older persons and also to our future husbands. A stubborn, disobedient girl might be made to sit on a pile of broken palm-kernel shells. Or water might be poured on her constantly for hours. Even after completion of school, in serious cases of insubordination, the zo had authority to prescribe some special type of poison designed to double up a victim in misery, thus to drive out the haughty spirit.

‘This will not happen to me,’ I resolved. ‘I will not suffer reproach on that account.’ I still had much to learn about genuine love, that deep-down loyalty that adds no reproach.

The Reproach of Barrenness

At childbearing age I responded to a young man’s “I love you” and entered into a trial marriage arrangement. My parents wanted to be sure that my lover “could hold a woman good.” I looked forward to the day when I would bear my first child. Imagine the disappointment when I miscarried. After that, no “belly” again for me. Something vital had gone out of my life. I was like a tree without fruit, a cloud without rain.

One day a suspicious-looking old man left with my lover a little book about God. He promised to return. As soon as the sound of his motorcycle reached me I fled into the cassava bush. Why should a strange man come and visit people like us, except to catch us for sacrifice? One day, arriving on foot, he did catch us, but his friendly greeting stopped me in my tracks.

Through an interpreter he told about a great chief who handed over much good farmland to people he loved. They could keep the land as long as they respected the chief and his laws. Failing miserably, they defied the chief and filled the place with trouble. Now the kindly chief was coming quickly to throw out the troublemakers and give his possession to appreciative ones.

With this illustration I came to understand the Creator’s purpose for the first time. And I learned that his name is Jehovah. What a grand future was offered to those who would please this great Heavenly Chief!

Deep within me something came alive, something that had died long before. All the sacrifices I had paid for had been unable to give me hope. Now there was something to live for after all. It was as though from the bottom of a dark hole I was being raised gradually into the light and warmth. I gladly consented to have this old man come and teach us the Bible regularly.

Faith was built up as I learned all about the one having ‘the keys of death and the grave,’ Jesus Christ. (Rev. 1:18) There was hope that my little brother would live again! What a grand prospect! And it was the Devil who had filled the earth with false worship, vain sacrifices and magic medicine that enslaved the superstitious.

My lover and I understood, too, that honorable marriage was no halfway arrangement. The dowry was soon paid in full. Both he and I had been changed for the better through Bible knowledge. I felt now that he should be able to “hold me good.” And what a pleasure to attend Christian meetings together!

“I Can’t Cry”

Not for long did we enjoy this happiness. “Let us go look for money somewhere,” my husband announced one day. I did not share his enthusiasm. It would mean leaving Christian friends, busying ourselves in the pursuit of mammon. Soon the good habits and the fruitage of love, joy and peace vanished. By the time we got back to our village I was a mistreated, spurned wife. My husband was interested in another woman. How I longed for the congregation meetings! But now my husband forbade me to have anything to do with Jehovah’s witnesses.

By this time I had learned that Jehovah was the Supreme Lawgiver, and no other, not even a husband, could properly cancel one’s obligation to the Creator. My husband threatened persecution and summoned my parents and the village elders. With all the strength I could muster I declared before them all: “The thing that Jehovah has taught me, none of you have taught me in my life. So I cannot quit. I have a new hope now!”

Next my husband moved to shatter my heart. Without delay he married my younger sister. Then he came and self-justifyingly said: “Ever since you be with me, you never ‘born’ child. I have no children by you. I know the thing I will do to you will make you cry!” “Since Jehovah’s name is on me,” I replied, “I can’t cry. Since it is your money you want, and you have taken my sister and all the other girl friends you have, and you tell me now that I am just a barren woman, I am going to give you your money!”

When my parents returned the dowry money, he himself, according to our custom, wrote out the receipt and free paper: “This woman is free to marry anybody. My name is not on her again.”

Reproach Taken Away

Thus I was thrown aside as worthless. I was like the dying embers of a fire. I needed to be stirred up again through close association with God’s people. Jehovah, not some genie, now truly became my helper, and under his care I made good spiritual progress. That was an unforgettable day when I accompanied that old Witness—the one I used to run away from—in the preaching ministry. People were surprised when I was able to tell them things about God, though I had never been inside a regular school. Later I even learned to read God’s grand promises to them out of the Bible.

Then, in due course, came baptism. My life now had definite meaning, for now I belonged to God. What a blessing I could be to others! How well I understood the fears and despairs of my superstitious country sisters! Particularly to those who could not have children I poured out my heart. Rather than the work of witchcraft, as they supposed, it was possibly the work of parasites that can affect the internal organs to the point of “spoiling the young belly.” Doctors later expressed the opinion that this had been the cause of my miscarriage. But the great Healer would soon correct our imperfect bodies. Miscarriages, stillbirths, malformed and sickly offspring will not mar the joy of those who share in repopulating the earth. No longer will mothers “bring to birth for disturbance.”—Isa. 65:23.

How satisfying to see seeds of Bible truth taking root in good hearts! One old Kpelle woman believed all her life that the dead are spirits who will never again live on earth. The truth that people will be resurrected in fleshly bodies to live on earth thrilled her. In time she accepted true Christianity and was baptized. As my “daughter” spiritually, this old “ma” now joins me in the preaching work. My real mother, too, listens respectfully to the Bible’s message. May she act before it is too late.

Long ago Hannah sang out exultantly in gratitude to Jehovah: “Even the barren has given birth to seven, but she that was abundant in sons has faded away.” Often I look upon the many children in a village, happy and carefree. But their parents are often proud, resisting the word of Jehovah. How can they survive when God sweeps away this crooked generation? Their reproach will be far worse than that of a barren woman. They are bringing forth merely for destruction. How I thank Jehovah that by his Word and spirit I am enabled to serve as a humble instrument in bringing forth “seven” for survival and life!—1 Sam. 2:5.

My mind has not changed. “Since Jehovah’s name is on me, I can’t cry.” I can only rejoice as a spiritually fruitful branch, desired and loved now by a husband at whose side I serve God. Together we prepare for survival and the joys of living under the loving rule of the One who promises eternal life. But even in this present time I can with joy and appreciation repeat the words of Rachel: “God has taken away my reproach!”—Gen. 30:23.

The Loving Shepherd

● An observer who watched shepherds with their flocks upon the slopes of Mt. Hermon in the Middle East tells of their loving care for the sheep in their charge. “Each shepherd watched his flock closely to see how they fared. When he found a new-born lamb he put it in the folds of his aba, or great coat, since it would be too feeble to follow the mother. When his bosom was full, he put lambs on his shoulders, holding them by the feet, or in a bag or basket on the back of a donkey, until the little ones were able to follow the mothers.” Jehovah used such a touching scene in pastoral life to help us appreciate his loving concern for his people as stated in Isaiah 40:10, 11.

Savor the Chinese Flavor

By “Awake!” correspondent in Taiwan

HAVE you had the experience of preparing a Chinese meal? As a recent arrival here in Taiwan, I enjoyed this fascinating experience. A nearby neighbor, Mrs. Ch’en, agreed to help me with preparing this meal for our family of six. In fact, she was more than willing.

On the appointed day Mrs. Ch’en arrived early eight o’clock in the morning. We exchanged the greetings of the day in Chinese. This much Mandarin Chinese I have already learned. We soon broke into English and she said: “Let’s go before the market gets too crowded.”

To the Market

We cut through a narrow back alley. Small children are everywhere. Women are getting their daily wash out to dry, stringing the clothes onto long bamboo poles that are then suspended across the alley from fence to fence. We duck and dodge our way through the washing.

Closer to the market the crowds increase. Daily shopping is the custom, the habit of centuries even though home refrigeration is becoming increasingly common. By midmorning the market will be jammed with people, and the meat, fish and vegetables will have been well picked over. I am glad we are early.

The Ch’ang Ch’un Lu (Eternal Spring Road) market hardly belongs in the supermarket family—no rows of gleaming canned, packaged and frozen goods. Rather, the main market has a large pavilion-type roof, sheltering upward of sixty small stalls that sell everything in the fresh food line. Outside, scores of small stands line both sides of Ch’ang Ch’un Lu.

“Let’s get the pork first,” Mrs. Ch’en says.

Oh, yes. We are cooking sweet and sour pork today.

Just look at those meat stalls! Loins, shoulders, strips of fat, bones and intestinal parts hanging before our eyes! They are there to pick and squeeze, finger and choose as one wishes.

Mrs. Ch’en chooses a fine-grained, light pink, tender-looking piece of loin, asking for one “chin” (pronounced “gin”). One chin is about one and a third pounds. Each chin is divided into sixteen liang. The butcher uses a hand-held sliding-weight balance. Our meat hangs by a hook from the short end while the butcher slides the weight along the other end until it balances. We leave with one chin of pork loin wrapped in a banana leaf and tied securely with a grass string.

Next Mrs. Ch’en proceeds to select the very best vegetables. We need onion, ginger and spinach for the chicken and spinach soup. The cabbage and fresh mushrooms will make the vegetable dish we have selected to complement the sweet and sour pork. Some bargaining follows, and we save some money on the mushrooms. I note that bargaining seems to be the custom.

We need some fruit, but it is outside along the street. Hanging rows of dressed chickens and ducks line our exit route. There are also large wicker baskets full of noisy, clucking, quacking birds for persons who wish to buy them alive. We purchase a small piece of chicken breast for use in our soup. As we leave I notice a woman selecting some small live fish from a shallow water tank full of fish and eels, all squirming and wriggling their last moments together.

Outside, we select some tangerines and half of a large mouth-watering watermelon from one of the fruit stands. The melon, Mrs. Ch’en comments, will add just the right flavor to top off our meal.

Work in the Kitchen

At home the chores begin! The vegetables and meat must all be cut into sizes and shapes easily handled with chopsticks. Convenience in using the chopsticks is one reason for this care, but also it makes the meal look attractive. It seems that the Chinese consider three things important in preparing a meal: eye appeal, aroma and, of course, enthusiastic response of the taste buds.

The vegetables that I have just finished cutting up surely fulfill the first requirement. They are colorful and attractive. And the chicken broth that Mrs. Ch’en has boiling on the stove is beginning to fulfill the second requirement—the ginger and chicken aroma is delicious! Later, the chicken meat will be shredded and, along with spinach and vermicelli, seasonings and a little wine, will be added to the broth to make our chicken and spinach soup.

The Recipe

Mrs. Ch’en expertly slices mushrooms in readiness for the vegetable dish of fried cabbage and mushrooms. She asks me to cut the one chin (1 1⁄3 pounds) of pork loin into one-inch cubes. Next we mix together 1 1⁄2 tablespoons of rice wine (sherry will do), 2 1⁄2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 1⁄2 tablespoons of flour, 1 1⁄2 tablespoons of cornstarch, and then add the pork cubes to these ingredients, coating them thoroughly with the mixture.

Sesame seed oil is already heated and Mrs. Ch’en deep fries the pork to a crisp golden brown. The kitchen is filled with appetizing aromas. We set aside the cooked pork.

Now to make the sweet-sour sauce. We mix 8 tablespoons of sugar, 5 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 1⁄2 tablespoons of rice wine, 2 1⁄2 tablespoons of vinegar, 5 tablespoons of tomato ketchup. This is the sweet-sour sauce mixture.

The vegetables that I have prepared include 4 peppers cut in quarters and seeded, one medium-size onion quartered, one medium-size carrot cut into small wedges and boiled for 7 to 8 minutes, one bamboo shoot cut into small wedges, 3 slices of pineapple, each quartered. Now all is ready for the final cooking, which requires only a few minutes.

Cooking the Chinese Way

The Chinese cooking pan is about 14 inches in diameter, 5 inches deep and made of fairly thin sheet iron. The rounded bottom concentrates heat, and there are no corners to hinder removal of food or accumulated grease.

Mrs. Ch’en heats about 6 tablespoons of oil in the pan, over a very high flame. The oil must be very hot, to the point of just beginning to give off smoke. Ah, there it is, the smoke! In go the prepared vegetables. How they crackle and hiss as they hit the hot pan! Cooking thus with high temperature preserves the original color, flavor and texture of the food.

If the vegetables start to burn, Mrs. Ch’en advises, do not turn down the flame. Just add a little more oil and stir faster. Color is the guide to doneness. When the greens are crisp and at their brightest green and before they begin to deteriorate into the green-yellows, they are ready. How unpalatable to the Chinese gourmet are overcooked vegetables! But, of course, they should not taste raw either.

…

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Awake!, May 8, 1970