Awake!, August 8, 1970

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Awake! — August 8, 1970

Source: jw.org

Contents

Why Envy Celebrities?

Stereoscopic Vision

The Demand for Law and Order—Where Can It Lead?

Alcoholism—a Disease?

The Churches and Sexual Morality

Oats Are Good for You

The Hernia Problem

Giant Water Tanks of the Desert

A Cataclysm Strikes Peru!

A Balanced View of Pleasure

Witness Given by Obedience to God

The Airplane—New Guinea’s Workhorse

No Images for Worship

Watching the World

Where Is This World Headed?

Bible Truth in 42 Languages!

Why Envy Celebrities?

DO YOU dream of becoming a famous singer or actor and having people crowd about you for your autograph? This is a very common desire, especially among young people. But does such fame really make life fuller and more enjoyable?

Consider what a celebrity sacrifices for fame. He cannot have the freedom you have to move about inconspicuously in public places. At a party he cannot speak unguardedly, because he is likely to be quoted or misquoted. His being famous makes it difficult for his children to have normal associations with other children. There is also the constant danger of their being kidnapped by people seeking ransom money.

The personal affairs of his homelife cannot be easily kept private. Recently the former personal secretary of Jacqueline Onassis published a book that reveals to the public things that went on in the private life of Mrs. Onassis while she was Mrs. John F. Kennedy. Undoubtedly Mrs. Onassis would prefer that her private affairs were not made public. But since celebrities feel obligated to hire employees it is not easy for them to keep private what occurs within their own home. Their loss of privacy is a high price to pay for fame. Do you really want to live like a creature in a goldfish bowl, one whose every movement is watched and criticized?

Furthermore, celebrities cannot be sure that those who profess to be their friends really are. Such persons might actually be more interested in being seen by the public in the company of a famous person. The professed friendship of another celebrity is also undependable because that person puts first his own position in the public eye. He can become insanely jealous if a so-called friend gets more public acclaim than he does. A true friend, however, sticks “closer than a brother.”—Prov. 18:24.

As far as morals are concerned, celebrities are certainly not to be envied. Immorality is rampant among them, causing domestic strife, divorces and diseases. An immoral way of life is not a happy one. Regarding this, Maurice Zolotow, a close associate of many famous persons, observed: “For about fifteen years I have been the confidant of Broadway and Hollywood actors and actresses who have opportunities to live a promiscuous sexual life. And some of them live it to the hilt . . . But when they trust you and let down their hair, they will confess how frustrating and unsatisfying it all is.”

Usually a famous person is soon forgotten when he dies. Although his name may be preserved in history books, it ceases to be on the lips of the people. This is particularly so as new generations come and the older ones that knew him pass away. For example, how many great athletes who won fame in ancient Greece do you know by name? How many are acclaimed today?

Did you ever hear of Philonides? He gained fame by running 105 miles in one day, but the public today do not acclaim him. How about Alcibiades? He was famous because he was the only one to have seven chariots in the Olympic games at one time and to carry off the first, second and third prizes. Cities joined together to celebrate his victory; yet he is unknown today by the general public.

The fame of such persons was relatively short-lived. It was not eternal, as some may have thought it would be. The same is true of fame today. Recently a well-known member of a singing trio said: “There we are, fixed in time, forever and ever.” Is this not mere illusion, wishful thinking? The only way anyone can be “fixed in time, forever and ever” is to gain the gift of eternal life that our Creator has promised to those doing his will.—Rom. 6:23.

A modern-day athlete, a boxer, who became famous in the South Pacific area came to realize that there is something more worth while to be sought than fame. He knew what it was to be famous. People would stretch out their hands to touch him as he passed; he had trophies, publicity and personal glory.

Upon realizing that his fighting was not pleasing to his Creator, he immediately quit. When asked what people would say, especially with a big bout scheduled for the day after he quit and in view of his having been chosen to represent his island in special games in New Caledonia, he gave a short and pointed reply. He said that the praises of men no longer mattered to him. What he wanted was the approval of God.—2 Tim. 2:24.

Instead of envying celebrities who have a passing name of fame with men, would it not be far more rewarding and satisfying for you to seek a good name with God by good works in harmony with his written Word?

The boxer that gave up fame so as to seek a good name with God chose the better course in life. Now he is having the satisfaction of helping others, the pleasure of being surrounded by genuine friends and the happiness of anticipating an eternal future in human perfection in God’s new order. Is this not more to be desired than the fleeting fame of being a celebrity?

Stereoscopic Vision

The brain is able to form just one image even though what we see comes through two eyes. This ability to form one image even though the two fields of vision overlap is called binocular vision, or stereoscopic vision. To demonstrate the value of this, close both eyes and have someone hold up a pen or pencil about two feet away. Then extend your arm from your side with index finger pointing. Now, open one eye and in the first motion try to touch the very tip of the pen or pencil. A few tries will show the value of stereoscopic vision, or the ability to judge depth.

The Demand for Law and Order—Where Can It Lead?

“WE’RE going strongly towards the right and perhaps into our own kind of fascism.”

“It’s the small liberties that are slipping away first. And as always, the slippage is justified on the grounds of ‘national security.’”

“Less than a generation ago, the tapped wire, the bugged room, the secret informer evoked contempt and ridicule . . . These were the marks of police states . . . It is happening here now.”

Fascism? Liberties slipping away? Marks of a police state? From what country’s press were the three quotations above taken? Did they come from Germany after Hitler rose to power? Perhaps from a country taken over by a Communist revolution?

It may come as a surprise to many, but the above quotations were taken from prominent news sources in America.a They were reporting on a situation that is now developing in the United States.

What is this all about? How could responsible persons make such statements about a nation where freedom has been championed for nearly two centuries?

To understand just what has provoked these comments, we need some background information. It has to do with the situation that exists in the United States regarding law and order.

Breakdown in Law and Order

Authorities agree that law and order have been breaking down in the United States in recent years.

The chance of an American’s being the victim of a crime is much greater now than ten years ago—more than twice as great. In fact, during the 1960’s crime rose about eleven times as fast as the population.

Police forces have been hard pressed to keep up with this avalanche of crime. This can be seen in the following statistics: for every 100 crimes committed in 1960, 31 were solved; but in 1968 out of every 100 crimes only 21 were solved. The average citizen feels that his security has surely lessened. Thus in a poll 71 percent of the people questioned considered crime the leading problem.

Other types of disorders also bother people deeply. Drug traffic increases every year. So have terror bombings by radical elements, as buildings in more than a dozen cities were bombed in just three months of 1970. Student riots and disturbances are becoming commonplace throughout the country. Demonstrations that can turn violent are becoming frequent.

More and more people are now demanding that something be done to combat this growing trend toward lawlessness and disorder. Some government officials feel that harsh measures must now be taken, but what measures?

Recent Proposals

Few would question the need for taking measures that would help stem the rising tide of crime and disorder. But what kind of measures are among those that have been advanced?

At least one house of Congress has passed a bill that would give police the right to break into a person’s home without warning. It is suggested that this method can be effective where a person is suspected of having drugs, but where a warning might give him time to get rid of the evidence.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would make it a crime to give a “provocative speech.” At present it is thought that this could silence radical elements who may advocate violence or who provoke riots.

Then a crime bill is being promoted that would suspend certain constitutional guarantees of persons accused of crimes. What is being proposed is called “preventive detention‘’ where persons suspected of committing crimes can be imprisoned without trial or bail for a period of time. Indeed, a House subcommittee has already approved a proposal that permits judges in Washington, D.C., to jail those they regard as dangerous criminal suspects up to sixty days without a trial.

The New York Post noted other measures taken recently: “The Post Office is again opening mail that should not be opened. An Army captain has filed suit in Washington to stop the Army from making unwarranted ‘generalized searches.’ Electronic eavesdropping . . . ‘bugging’ on private lives—has been alarmingly increased.”

U.S. News & World Report stated: “The steady build-up by government agencies of detailed information on private affairs of citizens is heading for a system of lifetime official surveillance over everyone in America. Along with the extensive growth in collection of intimate facts about individuals by federal, State and local governments, computerized ‘data banks’ enable revelation of just about anybody’s secrets at the touch of a button.”

To some, these types of proposals and actions are welcome. Indeed, a recent poll found that the majority of Americans would be willing to suspend at least seven of the basic guarantees in the Bill of Rights to get law and order. New York’s Mayor John Lindsay said that many people are now accepting the idea “that crime will stop if we erase the Bill of Rights, that unity will come if we suppress dissent, that racial conflict will end if we ignore racial justice, and that protest will cease if we intimidate the people who report it.”

But where can all such measures lead? Will they really help stem the tide of the kind of crime that worries most people?

Where Can It Lead?

Where can the proposal lead that gives police the authority to break into a person’s home without warning? True, right now this can be used against drug addicts and pushers.

However, in the New York Times of February 1, 1970, editorial writer Tom Wicker asks: “How long will it be, as a result, before agents come bursting without warning into the house of political dissidents, contending under this law that any other procedure would have resulted in the destruction of pamphlets, documents, and the like, needed by society to convict?”

What about the proposed bill that would make a “provocative speech” illegal? In the New York Post of April 27, 1970, columnist Harriet Van Horne noted that this law would have made illegal the speech Patrick Henry gave in defense of early American freedom. She added: “Such a law might temporarily silence a Rap Brown or a Jerry Rubin. But it would also produce a generation of obedient little fascists, saluting the flag at mass rallies and snitching on their elders.”

Then there is the proposal for “preventive detention.” This may now be used against persons who are recognized as dangerous criminals. But who can guarantee that it will stop there? In time a person who disagreed with an official or a political party in power might be regarded as a “dangerous criminal” seeking to overthrow the government. So he could be imprisoned without bail or quick trial. Even those with different religious beliefs could be imprisoned, as they are today in dictatorial lands. Without a doubt many innocent persons could be sent to jail for months under such a proposal.

It is no wonder that many freedom-loving persons are alarmed. Mayor Lindsay said that the recent legislative proposals by the United States government “constitute the most significant threat to freedom from our own Government in a generation.”

Representative Richard Ottinger of New York charged that members of the government, “by playing upon fear and prejudice, have begun to ram through measures which would wipe out basic constitutional freedoms while failing to halt the spread of crime in our society.”

The New York Times stated: “Think about some of the methods now described as vital to law enforcement wiretapping, breaking into homes without knocking, limiting the right of defendants at trial to know the sources of prosecution evidence. What will they do, what can they do, to reduce the volume of street crimes that rightly disturb Americans most of all? How can wiretapping stop a rapist or mugger?”

When such measures do not stop crime, then what might happen? The editorial adds: “It could be to demand ever harsher police measures . . . with tens of thousands of suspects held in detention without trial, say, and the Supreme Court swept aside if it found preventive detention unconstitutional.”

In its issue of April 26, the New York Times made this sobering assessment of the situation:

“Each morning in schools throughout this land, millions of children pledge their allegiance to a nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. This daily ritual is beginning to lose all meaning as America’s fundamental principles of freedom are being undermined. . . .

“Group appeals, sectional politics, harsh and divisive statements and, most important of all, repressive administrative actions and retrogressive proposals and laws are directed from the very highest sources of Government against dissenters and nonconformists. . . .

“Amid talk of the maintenance of law and order, an epidemic of electronic eavesdropping creates conditions approaching governmental lawlessness and moral disorder.

“To suggest that the Bill of Rights can be temporarily ignored in times of discord and anger would be to turn the Constitution into an impotent, bloodless document.

“It is not in harmonious times that liberties require protection. It is in days of doubt that the rights of the unpopular few must be upheld, if the liberties of the many are to remain safe.”

Could It Happen?

Many persons find it difficult to believe that such a trend could continue in the United States until basic freedoms are eroded. But it has happened before in many countries throughout the earth.

For instance, in Germany between 1918 and 1933 the people experienced difficult times. There was much lawlessness and disorder. Added to that were the hard times that began with the worldwide economic depression of 1929. The German people came to the point where they were willing to accept a dictator to restore and preserve law and order.

But their acceptance of Adolf Hitler did just the opposite. In his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William L. Shirer said of Hitler’s regime: “It caused an eruption of this earth more violent and shattering than any previously experienced . . . during which it instituted a reign of terror over the conquered peoples which, in its calculated butchery of human life and the human spirit, outdid all the savage oppressions of the previous ages.”

As reported by the Los Angeles Times of March 13, 1970, Shirer stated of the situation in the United States now: “Hitler never got more than 39% of the vote in a free election, but I think the American people now would vote for almost anything which would put down the so-called peaceniks and the college kids and the blacks. . . . If our affluent society turned into one of hardship, I think you’d get by the consent of the people a very right-wing society and government in which freedom would be greatly restricted.”

Yes, it can happen. Indeed, many responsible persons in the United States warn that the process may have already begun.

[Footnotes]

Los Angeles Times, March 13, 1970, part 2, p. 1; New York Post, April 27, 1970, p. 38; New York Times, April 27, 1970, p. 32.

[Picture on page 6]

A proposed law would give police the right to break into a house without warning

[Picture on page 6]

A Senate committee passed a bill to make it a crime to give a “provocative speech”

[Picture on page 7]

“Preventive detention” of suspects is being proposed

Alcoholism—a Disease?

◆ Many are the news items and magazine articles that speak of alcoholism as being a disease. Is it? In 1968 the United States Supreme Court rendered what is considered a landmark decision. It found in a 5-4 decision that alcoholism is not a disease. The majority opinion pointed out that doctors cannot agree “on what it means to say alcoholism is a disease.” Commenting on this Supreme Court Decision, Medical World News of February 20, 1970, said: “The law still considers that alcoholism is as much a paralysis of will power as anything else.”

The Churches and Sexual Morality

ON THE first of June, 1970, the New York Times reported that venereal disease, one of the results of sexual immorality, has become “the nation’s most common communicable disease, except for the common cold.” Especially are increasing numbers of young people being infected. To many sincere persons it might seem that the churches, by their teaching of morality, would provide a bulwark of protection for their members. But do they?

Clergyman Norman Vincent Peale admits: “The Protestant church has shown increasing hesitancy where sex morals are concerned, a tendency to adopt a permissive or relativistic approach.”

This attitude was brought to nation-wide attention recently in the United States. In its issue of May 17, 1970, Parade, a magazine supplement carried in ninety-three newspapers, had the feature article “Religious Storm Center: New Sex Code.” It said:

“The United Presbyterian Church’s proposed new sex code—one so liberal that it practically eliminates sin as a major factor in sexual relations—is already sending shock waves of controversy through U.S. religious circles. . . .

“Entitled ‘Sexuality and the Human Community,’ and drawn up by a team of experts in various fields, the report repudiates all absolutes regarding human sexuality.

“Among significant sex moralities advocated by the Presbyterian experts:

“Removal of all restrictions against unmarried adults who wish to live together. . . .

“Removal of any stigma that makes homosexuals feel they are in irresolvable conflict with the Christian fellowship.”

Parade also observed:

“On adultery, for example, heretofore absolutely unpermissible in the eyes of the church, the experts’ report says, ‘We recognize that there may be exceptional circumstances where extra-marital activity may not be contrary to the interests of a faithful concern for the well-being of the marriage partner.’”

Although not endorsing it, the recent United Presbyterian annual assembly in Chicago voted, 485 to 250, to “receive” the report for study by its congregations. To many, their action sounds innocent enough. After all, they did not endorse it. But what a long way they have drifted from the teachings of Jesus Christ when they passively ‘receive for study’ a proposal approving fornication, adultery and homosexuality!

What the United Presbyterian Church has done is not the first action of its kind. In 1966 the British Council of Churches resolved: “The Council receives the report Sex and Morality which has much to contribute of value to the contemporary discussion of moral questions by both Christians and non-Christians.”

Yet what does this report say? “We should leave the individual parties free to decide whether a personal relationship has achieved the intimacy and tenderness of which sexual intercourse is the appropriate expression, either in cases where a marriage is intended, or where it is not.”—Page 28.

And what does that mean? Given such instruction, a young girl may well conclude that if she has sex relations with a boyfriend, her parents should not criticize, and married people may reason that if they decide to have sex relations with someone else, their mates should not complain. Do you agree with such an outlook?

In 1963 a report entitled “Towards a Quaker View of Sex” was completed. Although it was not endorsed as an official view, the Society of Friends (Quakers) did help to finance the publication of the report, feeling that such would be good.

That report ridicules the Bible prohibition of homosexuality, and says: “One should no more deplore ‘homosexuality’ than left-handedness.” “An act which expresses true affection between two individuals and gives pleasure to them both, does not seem to us to be sinful by reason alone of the fact that it is homosexual.” (Revised Edition, 1964, pp. 26, 32, 33, 41) Is that the kind of religious instruction that you want your son to receive?

Though these are philosophies that an increasing number of religious organizations ‘receive’ and view as worthy of consideration, what they are doing does not represent the Bible. In plain language it says:

“Flee from fornication.” (1 Cor. 6:18) “God will judge fornicators and adulterers.” (Heb. 13:4) “Neither fornicators, . . . nor adulterers, . . . nor men who lie with men . . . will inherit God’s kingdom.”—1 Cor. 6:9, 10.

So it should be recognized that the churches of Christendom, while professing to use the Bible, do not really represent it. That they are deliberately repudiating the Bible itself is evident from the statements of religious leaders themselves.

For instance, the Assistant to the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York expressed church-approved views on New York radio station WQXR on the evening of April 6, 1970, when he said:

“Adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, and certain deviant sexual practices may violate Judeo-Christian standards of moral conduct, but when only adults are involved and there is no coercion and such acts occur in private, they should not be considered crimes. But they are in many instances, and these laws should be repealed.”

The “Judeo-Christian standards of moral conduct” that he rejects are those found in the Bible. In a similar vein the report Sex and Morality received by the British Council of Churches observes:

“Intelligent Christian opinion no longer regards the Bible, or even the New Testament, as a text-book from which one can extract authoritative rulings which automatically decide contemporary problems.”—Page 19.

And D. W. Ferm, dean of the chapel at Mount Holyoke College, writing in the prominent Protestant journal The Christian Century, went so far as to say that the Bible prohibition of sex relations before marriage is “wrong and immoral.”—Jan. 14, 1970, pp. 47, 48.

Are you shocked? If you are a church member, what viewpoint does your own minister take on these matters? It would be worth your while to ask.

The viewpoints quoted above are not merely isolated cases, nor are they altogether new. The training that these clergymen were given when they attended theological schools laid the groundwork for this trend. Thus, when the Presbyterian report came out, theologian Roger Shinn of Union Theological Seminary in New York, instead of expressing disapproval, said: “The report in regard to adultery is consistent with unfolding ideas in this field.”

But what are the fruits of those “unfolding ideas”? Venereal disease has reached ‘epidemic proportions,’ reports the news. Abortions are on the increase. In addition to those performed “legally,” in the United States about a million a year are done illegally. And clergymen who downgrade the Bible’s moral code are making a major contribution to the worsening situation.

Plainly, those who want for themselves and their families the protection afforded by the Bible’s high standards of morality must look somewhere other than to these churches for instruction.

Oats Are Good for You

WISE King Solomon once wrote: “I have come to know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good during one’s life; and also that every man should eat and indeed drink and see good for all his hard work. It is the gift of God.” Among the foods that are especially suited to enable man to do hard work is the grain known as oats.—Eccl. 3:12, 13.

Oats are grown around the world, some 3,000 million bushels annually, more than one-fourth of which is produced in the United States. In that country oats are exceeded only by corn or maize. There are some one hundred different varieties of oats, among which are white, red, yellow, gray and black oats. It is a favorite grain of the Scots, and not without good reason. It thrives on lean soil such as is found in Scotland, is the most economical of all grains as regards food value, and oat straw can be used for feed and for fertilizer.

In some lands a considerable portion of the oat crop is used for animal feed, such as for horses and chickens. In fact, it is the best of all feeds for horses, being unexcelled as a tissue or muscle builder. Horses prove their value to a farmer by using their muscles, and so need oats.

For many humans oats are also an excellent cereal food. Just how far back the production of oats goes is not known today, there being no reference to oats in the Bible. But, for that matter, neither is there any mention in the Bible of certain other important grains, such as corn (maize), rice and rye. (“Corn” in the King James Version refers to grain, not to maize.) However, oats are mentioned in the Mishnah, completed about the year 200 C.E. Earliest references tell about wild oats being a bothersome weed.

Hippocrates, the so-called father of the healing arts, who lived in the fifth century B.C.E., wrote that oats made into porridge or gruel (a thin porridge) “when eaten moistens and refreshes.” Pound for pound, oats lead all other grains in food value. In the form of oatmeal they are rich not only in carbohydrates, 67 percent, but also in protein, 16 percent; fat, 7 percent; minerals, 2 percent, and the rest moisture or water. All told, a pound of oatmeal contains 1,850 calories. It follows that a judicious use of oatmeal can cut down on the use of more costly foods. Oatmeal is in particular a good source of vitamin B1.

One of the reasons why oats have such an advantage over certain other grains is that, when they are milled, only the outer husk is removed, the bran and the germ remaining, the vitamin- and mineral-rich portions. It is therefore far more nutritious than any breakfast food made largely from white flour or polished rice. This is indeed something to be considered, for according to Dr. Jean Mayer, Harvard nutritionist, during the last twenty years there has been a decline in the vitamin and mineral content of the average American diet.—New York Times, March 12, 1970.

There are many ways in which rolled or cut oats can be used. For one thing, they can be used in making stuffing for chicken or turkey, even as they can be used instead of bread crumbs when making meat loaf. Oatmeal can also be used instead of flour as a thickening agent.

Many are also the uses to which oatmeal can be put in baking. Oatmeal cookies are as delectable as they are nourishing. For making them without flour take four cups of oatmeal, two cups of brown sugar, one cup of oil. Mix and leave it for eight hours. Then add two well-beaten eggs, one-half teaspoon salt, one teaspoon almond extract and raisins and nuts if desired. Bake in moderately hot oven for 15 minutes. Let cool before removing from pan. Result? As tasty, nourishing and wholesome a cookie as you could wish for.

Then there is also oatmeal bread, a favorite of the Scots, even as are scones made with oatmeal. Oatmeal can also be used with flour when making piecrusts, when making date-nut bars, and so forth. And, of course, the most common use of oatmeal is for porridge or as hot cereal. As such it has been a favorite for twenty-five centuries. Cooked with milk, honey and diced apples, and served with wheat germ and sliced bananas, it is a meal in itself.

Yes, as a nourishing cereal oats are good for you. And with a little culinary ingenuity, oats can also be “tops” in appeal to the palates of your family.

The Hernia Problem

DID you know that hernias are among mankind’s most common ills? That is, at least as far as the menfolk are concerned, for 75 to 80 percent of them occur in males. It is said that as many as one in twenty, or 5 percent of the males, in such lands as the United States and Canada have this problem. In Great Britain from 10 to 15 percent of all hospital admissions are for hernias and the ratio is even higher in Nigeria.

While it is common to refer to hernias as ruptures, the medical profession prefers the term hernia as being the more correct one. Hernia literally means a protrusion, which is what any hernia is. It does not necessarily involve a rupture or tearing of the tissues, but as often as not is a mere distending or stretching of them. This is especially true of the kind of hernias more common in womenfolk. In other words, every rupture is a hernia but not every hernia is a rupture.

Hernias are described in medical literature going back thousands of years. In ancient times and, indeed, until quite modern times, hernias were treated in a great variety of ways, magical, medical and surgical, some of which were very painful. In view of the prevalence of hernias, it will be of interest to note the causes of hernias, what, if anything, can be done to prevent them, and the various ways of treating them.

Causes of Hernias

There are various causes of hernias even as there are various kinds of hernias. There are hernias of the brain, usually caused by accidents or tumors, and there are those of the iris or eyes. There are also hernias of the neck, found in wind-instrument players who put quite a strain on the muscles of their necks while playing their instruments.

Then again, there are what are known as “incisional” hernias. These are protrusions where there was previously an operation for some cause other than a hernia. (A hernia where there previously was an operation for a hernia is called a recurrent hernia.) There are some in the medical profession who hold that if surgeons were more careful when operating and sewing up their patients, there would be practically none of these incisional hernias; or at least very few of them, comparatively speaking.

Then again, a hernia could easily result from an accident. If someone were to suffer a fall on his feet, that could well result in a hernia. The most common form of hernia, that of the groin in men, usually is brought on by straining, as when straining to have a bowel movement or trying to lift some heavy object in an injudicious manner. It is called an “inguinal” hernia.

However, by and large, the medical and like professions agree that these are but contributing causes. The basic cause according to most authorities is an inherited or congenital weakness of the abdominal or other muscles. This seems to appear from the fact that hernias at times run in families. Thus, for example, the trumpet player who suffers a hernia in his neck no doubt brought it on because of straining while blowing; but he did not necessarily strain more than other trumpet players who do not suffer this injury. It is just that in the structure of his throat some of the muscles were not as strong as they should have been.

Prevention

But could this congenital or inherited weakness, except in the case of infants and children, be compensated in some way? Or could it be that in some cases, instead of being born with this weakness, some may acquire it because of neglecting their health? That is the position taken by some who hold that unwise health habits, such as insufficient exercise, overindulgence in eating or in other bodily pleasures could well be contributing factors. Those who hold that proper care of the body could well protect against at least some hernias point to the marvelous way in which the body is made. Thus in the abdomen there are several sets of muscles that cross one another at different angles—really so designed as to give the maximum strength to the walls of the abdomen. These are known as the ‘transversal,’ the ‘oblique internal’ and the ‘oblique external’ muscles.

As for strengthening and improving the tone of the abdominal muscles, there are many things that one can do to acquire this result. Simply cultivating the habit of good posture, walking, standing, and sitting erect will be a great help. And since overweight, as well as an overloaded alimentary canal, is conducive to hernias, moderation in food and drink should also be practiced. Obviously a rupture or hernia can more readily occur where the muscles are fat and flabby.

Since hernias are not uncommon among muscular athletes, it is apparent that not just any exercises will help to compensate for an inherited defect that may result in a hernia. Exercises should be those that strengthen the muscles of the abdomen. These include climbing stairs, jogging, push-ups, horseback riding and, especially, bicycle riding. All these tend to strengthen the muscles of the abdomen as well as contribute to one’s general health.

Yes, the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure might well be applied to the hernia problem. More care on the part of surgeons doubtless would notably decrease the number of incisional hernias. And learning to lift heavy objects properly might well keep many other hernias from happening. Instead of merely bending over and putting all the strain on the loins when trying to lift a heavy object, one should also bend one’s knees so as to employ the muscles of the legs. And there is also the factor of exercises that strengthen the muscles of not merely the arms and legs, but also the abdomen.

What Can Be Done About a Hernia

As with treatment of other physical infirmities to which man has fallen heir, there are wide differences of opinion as to what is the best thing to do. Not a few resort to a truss. The use of trusses goes back some five centuries or more. Some authorities recommend them as a temporary measure and in treating infants and very young children, among whom there is a good likelihood that the hernia will repair itself. Trusses are also recommended by some for very old persons, although more so in times past than at present. Some men prefer trusses because of the fear of an operation or the expense of it, but they leave much to be desired as they are wearisome to use (especially in hot weather), rarely remedy matters and at times may even make matters worse.

A few doctors treat hernias by injection of certain chemical substances that cause a fibrosis. That is, they cause an abundant producing of fibrous tissue that is supposed to close the hernial opening and so cure it. It is said by some to have advantages in certain cases.

Most physicians recommend surgery. But the record has not been altogether complimentary to the surgical profession as a whole. Thus Dr. A. A. Koontz, a United States authority on the subject, in his book Hernia (1963), tells about the recurrence rates. According to him they vary from 10 to 30 percent and more, depending upon the type of operation.a Apparently not all who operate for hernias are as skilled as they should be. He states that, while the situation is improving, the recurrence rate is still far too high and points to his own recurrence rate of less than one-half of one percent. He counsels surgeons operating for hernias: “Make the operation fit the patient. Don’t try to make the patient fit the operation.”

Also Dr. S. H. Wass, writing in Guy’s Hospital Reports, No. 3, 1968, says: “Our results leave much to be desired. Max Page (1934) surgeon to St. Thomas’ Hospital decried complacency and drew attention to the bad results of routine hernia surgery. In spite of innumerable modifications of the techniques of hernia repair over the past thirty years recurrences are still far too common.”

Surgery for hernias goes back to the ancient Orient. One who in more recent times did better than the rest was A. Paré of the sixteenth century, who is quoted as saying: “I cut them and God heals them.” The present-day methods by and large are based on those developed by an Italian surgeon, E. Bassini, and by W. Halsted, an American surgeon, both in about 1890.

A more recent innovator was the late E. E. Shouldice, of Toronto, Canada, who developed his system during World War I and whose clinic continues to specialize in only hernia operations. He developed a method of overlapping and reinforcing, using steel wire in adults and gut in infants and children. He brought down his recurrence rate to less than one percent and felt so confident of his method that he offered to repair any recurrences free of charge, even as does his clinic today.

A surgeon writing in the West African Medical Journal, December 1968, told of successfully performing hundreds of hernia operations with only local anesthesia, even as does the above-referred-to clinic. No doubt because of this, patients at this clinic are able to take exercises the very first day after the operation and to return home after the third day. Doubtless helping to account for the success of this method are the facts that overweight patients are required to reduce before being accepted and smokers are asked to cut down on their smoking two weeks before the operation.

Exercising Recommended by Some

There are some who speak highly of the value of certain exercises in remedying reducible hernias in those not beyond the prime of life. Reducible hernias are those that disappear when one is lying down or with gentle pressure. If they do not disappear under such conditions they are termed irreducible or incarcerated hernias, a more serious condition.b

Those healthy young men whose hernias are not too bothersome or serious might well want to try the exercise approach to their problem. Of course, all the exercises previously mentioned as strengthening the muscles in the abdomen would be helpful in reducing a hernia. But additionally there is a special set of exercises that is indispensable in reducing a hernia, namely, those that strengthen the muscles in the groin.

A great help for these exercises is a slant board. This is a board of some six feet in length, about 18 inches wide and one end of which rests on the floor whereas the other end is raised about a foot. This higher end has a strap around it under which a person can place his feet. With hands clasped behind the head, he endeavors to raise himself into a sitting position. Then in a sitting position he tries to turn his body as far as he can to the right and then as far as he can to the left, all the while having his hands clasped behind his head.

A similar exercise is to be turning once to the right as one raises oneself erect on the slant board and then the next time to the left. Such twisting exercises strengthen the muscles of the groin. Another exercise is to lie flat on one’s back on the floor and then, with the feet raised, try to imitate the motions used when swimming. Another is to sit in a chair and put the right hand on the left knee and the left hand on the right knee and oppose or try to push the knees apart while resisting the pushing with one’s legs as much as one can. Of course, all such exercises require determination, but those using them testify to their value.

Since hernias have been termed one of mankind’s most common ills, it does seem that more could be done to prevent both their occurrence and their recurrence. Also, the facts seem to indicate that one should exercise care in choosing a surgeon if an operation is deemed necessary. Each one faced with this problem will therefore do well to consider the pros and cons before making a decision as to what to do about it.

[Footnotes]

According to others, the present U.S. recurrence rate is 4 percent.

Most serious of all are “strangulated” hernias, in which, as their name implies, the circulation of the blood is strangled by a decrease in the size of the opening through which the hernia protrudes. This can happen at any time and generally requires immediate surgery or else complications, gangrene and even death, can shortly ensue. Because of this risk many physicians recommend that all hernias be immediately repaired; this is the opposite extreme, it might be observed, from resorting to exercise.

Giant Water Tanks of the Desert

A VERITABLE living water tank! That is what the giant saguaro cactus could be called. Why? Because of the amount of water that this desert plant can soak up and store. You see, rain does not fall for many months in the desert. But when it does, the saguaro cactus will soak up enough water to keep living and bearing fruit and blossoms for a year or even longer. And when it is filled with water it can weigh five or more tons.

Close study of this cactus water tank tells us that it is ideally suited for its desert home. Rather than having a long taproot that could not survive in the desert sands, this cactus has long near-surface roots that spread out in all directions from its main stem. When it rains, these roots will take in water from the sand as fast as it falls. Also its “skin” or smoothly waxed outer shell is grooved to expand like an accordion when it is taking in water. Further, the inside of this waxy, watertight shell is filled with a spongy material that absorbs the water taken in by the roots.

Now, what keeps the saguaro cactus from flopping over into a heap? The Creator designed it with a skeleton of runglike supports or hard cells one to two inches thick running through its trunk and branches. These also serve to help carry water up into the spongy tissue.

Look at the size of the saguaro cactus! Some specimens have grown to a height of fifty or more feet, with their main trunk being two feet in diameter. And some are believed to be more than two hundred years old.

Where can you see these giant water tanks? In the Sonoran Desert in southwestern United States, especially in the area that is known as Saguaro National Monument.

A Cataclysm Strikes Peru!

By “Awake!” correspondent in Peru

“QUAKE LEAVES 100 DEAD IN CAJACAY.” “LANDSLIDE BURIES 18: SAYAN.” “40 DIE BURIED BY ROCKS IN CAJATAMBO.” “YUNGAY TOTALLY DESTROYED.”

Any one of these headlines would be enough to arrest its reader with shocking concern. But that they should all appear in rapid succession, bringing reports of the western hemisphere’s worst natural disaster in recorded history, strains credibility. When the final tally is known, if indeed it will ever be accurately known, the toll taken by the violent earthquake that rocked Peru on Sunday afternoon, May 31, may well exceed 60,000 dead!

The results of the quake, flashed on television screens and in newspaper headlines throughout the world, defied imagination. Chimbote, a thriving fishing and industrial port of over 100,000 inhabitants, was 85 percent destroyed. Huaraz, Caraz and Yungay, nestled in the travel-poster setting of the beautiful Huaylas valley, were in ruins; Yungay being completely swept away and its remains buried beneath a sea of mud and ooze.

The capital, Lima, too, felt the quake at 3:24 that Sunday afternoon. But when a quick check of different sections of the city showed little property damage and only three deaths, the citizenry began congratulating itself on having experienced just another susto (scare). They settled back to watch the opening game of the world soccer tournament being held in Mexico and televised via satellite around the earth. Lima bedded down for the night totally unaware of the tragedy in its neighboring cities to the north.

Chimbote and Casma

Not until Monday morning did the first reports reach Lima, as vehicular traffic along the Pan-American Highway began to arrive. A member of the office staff of the Watch Tower Society and his wife were returning to Lima after a short vacation with friends in Trujillo, and they were among the first to reach the capital with a report of what had taken place. Let him narrate his experience.

“The drive from Trujillo to Chimbote had been pleasant but, as Lima was yet another five-hour drive away, we decided to stop and freshen up a bit before continuing our journey. We pulled up in front of the Hotel Chimú, overlooking the placid Chimbote bay. The engine had hardly died when everything was gripped in the throes of a violent upheaval. The automobile lurched frantically from side to side and up and down. The hotel, an imposing three-story building, leaped and twisted about. Windowpanes shattered to the ground. I backed the car into the middle of the parking area and there we rode it out.

“The once-calm bay was seized with giant choppy waves, and the beach began to sink and fall away toward the ocean. Large fissures opened in the street. The front wheels of one car dropped into a wide crack that had opened up suddenly beneath them. A glance toward the mid-town section revealed a rising cloud of gray dust that reached a height of one hundred feet blanketing the entire city.

“All about us the city lay in ruins. Frantic cries of pain and grief pierced the air. In panic, people ran to and fro searching the debris for loved ones, calling names, listening for voices. A father ran aimlessly down the street, the lifeless form of his little boy draped in his trembling arms. Many were still too stunned to do anything except stand in the street casting questioning glances about them.

“The quake lasted but forty-five seconds—a short span, indeed, in any circumstance but an earthquake. In those fleeting, prolonged, interminable forty-five seconds, there were drastic changes in the lives of hundreds of thousands of persons.

“When the initial fright had passed, the thought came to us: ‘How had our Christian brothers, Jehovah’s witnesses, in Chimbote fared?’ They were probably having their weekly Sunday meeting. So we made our way to the nearest Kingdom Hall. There are three congregations in Chimbote.

“Only five minutes had elapsed when we arrived at the Kingdom Hall. It was demolished, but the whole congregation was safe and alive! A steel girder had remained suspended at one end by its reinforced concrete column. Though the roof had caved in on either side, it had remained sufficiently high to permit all to crawl out to safety. Only minor injuries were received by a few.

“Shortly, someone arrived and reported that the roof had held at their Kingdom Hall. Although some had sustained fractures, it appeared that only one young girl was critically injured. Since the third congregation had not been holding its meeting, nothing was known immediately as to their plight.

“All the Witnesses had lost their homes and belongings, being left with only the clothes on their backs. It was later discovered that only one Witness and the wife of a Witness had perished in Chimbote.

“No telephone lines remained. So we decided to return to Trujillo and from there notify the Watch Tower office in Peru by telephone. We did not know at the time that Trujillo, too, had been badly hit. When we arrived at the mountain pass north of Chimbote, we found it filled with huge rocks and impassable. So we turned around and headed on to Lima.

“The first town south of Chimbote was Casma. It took about thirty minutes to find the Kingdom Hall where the Witnesses had been holding their meeting. None of them were found. However, we learned that one had been critically injured when a wall of the hall fell in on him. He died that night.

“Night had fallen by the time we resumed our race to Lima. Shortly we found the road blocked by huge boulders. Our car was small enough to negotiate the road blockage, but when we got to the Casma Bridge we were unable to get over the two-foot rise caused by the sinking of the macadam approach. We returned to a safe spot out in the open, away from possible falling rocks, and waited the long night out. We could not sleep. All through the night repeated shakes and tremors, accompanied by an unearthly rumble, continued to rock our car.

“It was dawn on Monday morning when finally the bridge was opened to traffic. So we were able to drive the remainder of the four-hour trip to Lima.”

Relief Organized

Immediately telephone calls were made to all of Jehovah’s witnesses in Lima who had phones. Instructions were given to gather food and clothing, blankets and medicines, and to pass the word on to others to do the same. The loving response was immediate. That night the lobby of the Watch Tower office in Lima began filling up with bags of clothing and boxes of foodstuffs. Money was received in donations large and small.

So great was the response that by midnight Tuesday, just thirty-six hours after receiving the word, a convoy of five vehicles including a ten-ton truck left Lima headed for Casma and Chimbote with relief supplies! They carried blankets, clothing, food and 275 gallons of drinking water, as well as kitchen and cafeteria equipment and canvas tenting materials. The Watch Tower caravan was among the first to reach these stricken areas with aid.

A truckload of provisions was left in Casma. All the Witnesses there had gathered at the property of a Witness on the outskirts of town where no damage had been registered.

In Chimbote the Witnesses were found in good spirits in spite of the great loss. In the two days following the earthquake they had cleaned up the debris from the Kingdom Hall and put up walls of woven matting all around it. This made for a secure place to leave provisions until they could be distributed.

The two other congregations in Chimbote had set up camp on a hill overlooking the city. When members of the expedition arrived they found a tiny city established. It was neat and orderly and functioning harmoniously. Tasks had been assigned. In the mornings the Witnesses cleaned up the debris from around their fallen homes. And in the afternoons they visited the homes of stricken people offering consolation from the Bible. A school had been set up to keep the children occupied.

Soon the Witnesses were enjoying their first warm meal in three days. That night they were able to sleep warmly under the blankets and heavy clothing that had been provided. Having cleared the site of the Kingdom Hall, the congregation continued its meeting schedule without interruption. The Witnesses had given attention first to their Kingdom Hall, leaving their own homes until later!

The Huaylas Valley

But a large and foreboding question mark still hung over the city of Huaraz. No word had been received from the congregation there. Nor had any news been received from Caraz, farther north of Huaraz, where there is an isolated group of Jehovah’s witnesses. Even after eight days no word had been received concerning the Witnesses in the Huaylas valley. As the reports of the magnitude of the disaster continued to pour in, we really feared for the plight of our fellow Witnesses there.

The winding roads to Huaraz and Caraz that climb tortuously into the Andean “altiplano” were never good at their very best. Now they were practically obliterated. A monumental task befell the corps of Army road engineers to open them as soon as possible.

True, aircraft had been dropping in supplies. But due to their restricted payload, as well as the risk of lives and the great expense, it was vital that ground transportation into the area be opened up. Already four helicopters and one plane had gone down, with eight persons killed. Hundreds of tons of relief goods were waiting to reach the stricken ones as soon as the road could be opened.

The road crews worked around the clock in an almost superhuman race against time. One convoy sent by Jehovah’s witnesses was thwarted by the still-blocked roadway, and the supplies were carried on to Casma and Chimbote. Finally, on Monday, June 8, word was officially received that the road would at last be opened. Another convoy was organized, and it was among the first fifteen vehicles waiting a mile or so behind the road crews, moving forward as each new stretch of road was opened up.

One member of the convoy observes: “As we restlessly tried to catch some sleep in the bitter cold while waiting for the road to open, we were mindful of our fellow Witnesses and their little children who would also be trying to sleep. But they would have no roof over their heads, and few blankets and little clothing to ward off the freezing temperatures.”

At last the way was free and the caravan continued its dusty climb into the freezing, rarefied atmosphere of the heights above!

The Search

The warming rays of the dawning sun found the caravan winding its way at last down into the valley where Huaraz had once stood. The total destruction of villages that were passed along the way brought somber thoughts to the minds of the travelers. Surely a destruction so complete must have wiped out some of the Witnesses, if not all of them.

The convoy broke ranks with the other trucks and began the task of trying to locate the Witnesses. The city lay in ruins. All around its perimeter, camps of refugees had sprung up. Rumors and leads were followed disappointingly to their dead ends.

Using walkie-talkies to keep in touch, two members of the convoy threaded their ways among the camps from tent to hut to lean-to, inquiring. At sundown two separate leads brought them almost simultaneously to the campsite of Jehovah’s witnesses. Tears of joy streaked down cheeks as they embraced one another. All of Jehovah’s witnesses and their immediate family members, some sixty persons in all, were alive and safe!

Little by little the tale of survival began to unfold. Some had been able to reach open ground while others sought refuge in their doorways, that part of a building that is most often left standing. There were close calls.

One Witness dug frantically to uncover his young son who had been buried beneath two heavy adobe walls. Fighting suffocation from the dust and dirt, the boy had the presence of mind to limit his breathing until his father could clear the debris from around his face and head. He got off with only a fissured jawbone.

An eleven-year-old daughter of a Witness had gone out on her bicycle to buy bread for the evening meal. Her mother, on the second floor of her home in the very middle of the most devastated area, rode out the quake under a doorway while the rest of the house crumbled down around her. A search was made for the little girl. Two hours after the quake her uncle stumbled onto several pieces of bread among the rubble of the street. Then the mangled part of a bicycle, and just beyond under large adobe bricks and roofing tiles, the missing child. She is now recuperating in a Lima hospital from multiple fractures of arm, leg and pelvis.

Utter Desolation

Ten thousand others were not as fortunate. For it was officially estimated that many persons were still buried in the narrow streets of Huaraz under tons of debris.

When the first tremors were felt, thousands scrambled for the safety of the open spaces. They never had a chance. Their own homes came tumbling down upon them.

The rubble in the streets now reaches the height of what once was the second floor, so it is difficult to tell where the streets were.

Reports from farther down the valley, revealed yet greater and more complete destruction. Apparently a gigantic chunk fell away from the north face of Mount Huascarán into Lake Yanganuco, spilling its waters over into the canyons leading to the Huaylas valley below. The resultant onrush of water, mud, stones and ice reached the city of Yungay and its neighboring town, Ranrahirca, burying the two and claiming over 20,000 lives! All that remains visible of the city of Yungay are the tops of four tall palm trees that once marked the central “Plaza de Armas.” Those who might have survived the terrible quake were killed just ten minutes later by the inundation.

The city of Caraz was spared total destruction from this terrible avalanche when it stopped just short of the city limits. Though the road there was still unopened, a message finally arrived from the Witnesses in Caraz. They were all safe!

From all over the 22,000 square miles shaken by the cataclysm came stories of terrible desolation. Two hundred and fifty cities, towns, villages and hamlets reduced to rubble, rendering from 800,000 to 1,000,000 homeless. Jehovah’s witnesses are indeed happy that they need count only three dead and very few injured among the approximately 400 Witnesses that live and work in the areas hardest hit.

Recovery

Now the mammoth task remains of caring for the injured, burying the dead, finding homes for the hundreds of orphans left in its wake and rebuilding the cities that lay in waste. But there is confidence this will be accomplished. For the Peruvian has learned resilience in living with the ever-present possibility of earthquakes and avalanches.

In this century alone twelve major quakes have rocked Peru. And many other areas of the earth have likewise been shaken by numerous major quakes since 1914, with death tolls ranging from hundreds to close to two hundred thousand in each of these disasters. Jehovah’s witnesses see in these cataclysms further evidence that we are living in the last days of this system of things. For Jesus Christ specially said that “earthquakes in one place after another” would mark “the conclusion of the system of things.”—Matt. 24:3, 7.

From around the world has come aid to assist the earthquake victims to recover from this disaster. Jehovah’s witnesses in New York city donated well over ten tons of clothing, categorized it for easy distribution, packed it in over a thousand cartons, and sent it to Peru early in June. Such efforts have helped Peruvians recover from the western hemisphere’s worst natural disaster in recorded history.

[Picture on page 18]

Witnesses operate their little city set up after the earthquake as they do their assemblies

A Balanced View of Pleasure

Is it wrong to seek pleasure? Can the pursuit of pleasure bring true satisfaction?

THERE is a worldwide interest in fun and pleasure. Americans reportedly spend close to $150,000,000,000 annually in the pursuit of pleasure. However, it has been confidently forecasted that by 1975 this figure will reach $250,000,000,000, outrunning all the rest of the economy.

On liquor alone, Americans spent $14,500,000,000 in a recent year. Also, some 3,500,000 skiers spent $1,100,000,000 in connection with the sport of skiing. Millions of other persons seeking pleasure purchased $1,000,000,000 worth of movie tickets. And a vast number of Americans spent some $3,000,000,000 to enjoy the pleasures of boating. Other countries, too, are experiencing an explosion in pleasure-seeking.

Do you enjoy certain forms of recreation? Do you, for example, like to go skiing or boating? Do you enjoy swimming, playing tennis or participating in other sports? Or do you perhaps find pleasure in watching a wholesome movie? Are such pleasures wrong?

Some religious persons would say that they are. It has been taught that refraining from pleasure is meritorious, and some religious leaders have frowned upon and even condemned pleasure.

…

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Awake!, August 8, 1970