111111 1;1 December 31, 1970 Vol. 147 No. 57 REVIEW AND HERALD • GENERAL CHURCH PAPER OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
"Every day that passes brings us nearer the last great important day. We are one year nearer the judgment, nearer eternity. . . . Are we also drawing nearer to God? Are we watching unto prayer? Another year of our time to labor has rolled into eternity. Every day we have been associating with men and women who are judgment bound. Each day may have been the dividing line to some soul; someone may have made the decision which shall determine his future destiny. What has been our influence over these fellow travelers? What efforts have we put forth. to bring them to Christ?"
—Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 466. By JUNE STRONG
uchadnezzar's prophetic image will Just imagine it! With tens of thou- not be subjected to years of waiting, sands bowing before Him, He's still but rather to fulfillment. What others concerned with you and me. When he preached and prophesied, we are see- sets us in a framework (the church) ing and living. Mr. Trueblood was that prohibits smoking, drugs, pre- absolutely right; mild religion is not marital sex, painted faces, and the enough for today; it never was. theater, He's preparing us for the Adventists should be the happiest ultimate in delight. He wills us to people on earth. We have something have clean, curious, searching minds, worth living for. Many have counted uncluttered with trash, minds capa- it even worth dying for. Perhaps it is ble of grasping great truths and pre- the lack of a challenge such as the senting them to others. "All Heaven church provides that has bred the is interested in the happiness of man. Thoughts restless ones of our modern society. Our heavenly Father does not close But we are involved in royal service. the avenues of joy to any of His crea- We have received our marching or- tures."—Steps to Christ, p. 46. ders from no earthly monarch, but Without the hedge of standards from the Ruler of the universe, the about me, I am afraid I'd probably One sure to triumph. We know where exist on coffee, cigarettes, and novels, From we are headed. We know the future for I am of that breed. It frightens me and our relation to it. The psychia- to think of how shoddy life might trists tell us that it is vital to be have been if Christ had not sheltered needed, and we know we're needed me. I thank Him for the hedge. in hospitals, in schools, in mission a fields, in pulpits, in Sabbath schools, A Proposed Solution in MV Societies, and on the doorsteps A class in psychiatry that I once at- of a million godless homes. tended was taught by a Catholic It's a high privilege to know what priest, head of a large mental-health lies ahead, to be able to interpret clinic in the city of Buffalo. As he in- Layman current events in the light of proph- troduced his lectures he stated that ecy. But every privilege carries inher- he did not stand before us as a min- ent responsibility. It is not enough ister of God and that we were to ig- that we know. All must know. But be- nore his clerical collar. He had come fore we set out upon this seemingly to us simply as an instructor. But he impossible task, let us be sure we un- then added, grinning, "Had I the derstand the worth of what we have privilege to speak to you as a priest, I to offer, lest we timidly tiptoe when would present the solution to the we should run with joy. world's ills in one brief quotation, and I recall an elderly academy chapel you could go home." Then he recited speaker saying that even if there were softly, "God sets His image on the no reward at the end, he'd still choose soul, and men are restless till they rest the life he'd led. I was a teen-ager in Him." and I wasn't quite sure that he spoke This learned man with long hours our language at all. To give up of counseling to his credit had put T'S AN exciting, challenging, sat- make-up, dancing, movies, and then to his finger on the source of the world's isfying experience to be a Sev- find it all in vain! It took me a few unhappiness. "Man, created for fel- I enth-day Adventist in 1970. It's years to discover he spoke a vital lowship with God, can only in such an experience that Peter, Martin Lu- truth. Nothing Satan has to offer is fellowship find his real life and de- ther, or J. N. Andrews would have for our good. If we reflect on his char- velopment. Created to find in God given a great deal for. And acter a bit we cannot argue that fact. his highest joy, he can find in noth- we, through the fact that we are He isn't out to do us any favors. ing else that which can quiet the church members, are involved in it. When he offers us something, no mat- cravings of the heart, can satisfy the At least I hope we're involved. What ter how sophisticated and alluring it hunger and thirst of the soul."—Edu- a shame to be drifting in such an may appear, we may be sure there's a cation, pp. 124, 125. hour. catch. While he's entertaining us so "Those who in everything make In his book The Incendiary Fellow- cleverly, we'll find he's wedged him- God first and last and best, are the ship, Elton Trueblood says, "Mild re- self right down between us and Christ, happiest people in the world."— ligion cannot sustain itself because it and getting rid of him will be no small Messages to Young People, p. 38. cannot start even a tiny flame." The matter. Let's begin talking about it. very nature of our beliefs demands On the positive side, who knows I have a bleak memory of a long- that we be a people of joy and action. better than our Creator how to set up ago New Year's Eve spent in the We who live down in the toes of Neb- rules for our happiness? He loves us. home of a Christian woman. She had
2 REVIEW AND HERALD, December 31, 1970 invited my husband and me, along hopeless it seems. Try it on your wife, lenging. Systematically she went at with a few other young people in the your roommate, or your friend. the housecleaning of an average mod- church, to see the old year out with Watch carefully for the right mo- ern-day life. She removed every novel her family. She served a delicious ment, then sit down with him and say, from her bookshelves, every offensive lunch, we played some games, and as "I wonder what you and I could do record from her collection. Going to the midnight hour approached she for Christ this coming year." It may her closet, she sorted out immodest switched off the TV and said, "I startle him a bit, or a lot, and the items of clothing. When her husband thought it would be nice if we spent words may sound a little awkward in arrived that evening her enthusiasm the last moments of 1956 speaking to- your own mouth, but never mind. Tell was irresistible, and he gladly joined gether of God's love and what He's him you believe Christ is soon to re- her in prayer. Together they dedi- done for us." turn and that exciting times lie cated their lives, their home, their all And then she waited courteously ahead. Invite him to pray with you at to their Saviour. They found a new for us to begin. And she waited. And an appointed time. I believe there are life so fascinating that the days were waited. No one said a word. We care- many who would accept such a chal- never long enough. God sent them fully avoided her eyes and one an- lenge, many who are vaguely search- work to do that filled a long-felt need other's, and finally after a longem- ing for a starting place in their search in their lives. Talk about this sort of barrassing silence she herself filled he for Christ. experience to your friend, and to- gap in her gracious way with eloquent Talk to your friend about cleaning gether begin to explore the most in- words of praise for her Saviour. The the debris out of your lives. A young teresting realm of service available to moment was gone, the opportunity woman, wife of a lawyer, was sud- man. lost. I have asked myself many times denly impressed that a life fully given Count out your talents. Set them why we, all lifelong members, were so to God could be wonderfully chal- down on paper. Then ask yourself how reluctant to speak. "We talk of tem- best they may be used. Talk to the poral things because we have an in- Lord about it. Determine to excel be- terest in them. We talk of our friends cause you are Christ's—to use all your because we love them; our joys and potential in His service. Never doubt our sorrows are bound up with them. Meet Him at the Cross your ability to accomplish what He Yet we have infinitely greater reason asks. All things are possible to us. to love God than to love our earthly By NICHOLAS LLOYD INGRAHAM Read Matthew 17:20 every morning. friends; it should be the most natural My Lord is a creative linguist. We think too small. We have nar- thing in the world to make Him first His "Let there be" became atoms rowed our lives down to endless eve- in all our thoughts, to talk of His and whirled -a "Here we • arc!"—one nings of television, while the King of goodness and tell of His power."— galaxy of glory:, world, sun, star, the universe waits to open a thousand Steps to Christ, p. 102. I have wished and man in God's image, responded, doors on unexplored areas of many times I could go back to that each in his own peculiar language. happiness. He says, Come boldly to the New Year's Eve and add my testimony My God 'is a loving linguist. throne of grace. Do we grasp the full to that of my hostess. Innocent heaven sliced through significance of such an invitation? the center by sin, Eden's Adam "One of our important steps is to Meeting Spiritual Kin and Eve enticed, too, by sin. begin to realize how exceedingly rev- During a recent vacation our fam- God said to His Son, Christ: "Lo, olutionary the primary Christian con- ily visited a Negro church in Roches- our council of salvation! . . . Go, victions really are. If God is, if He is ter, New York. Admittedly, it was love ihc universe together again. like Christ, and if each human being Blood of man's blood, bring forth is made in His image, we have a with an uneasy feeling that we parked a new creation, a loyal generation, our car on the fringe of what had re- safe forever from seductive sin"— world view more revolutionary than cently been a riot area and walked the And -the plan for lost man began. Marxism or any other system which short distance to the church, but as claims to be able to change the world. we stepped into the entry whatever My Jesus is a seeking linguist. The trouble lies not in the theology, qualms we may have entertained van- : Adam, naked, ashamed, and afraid but in our failure to comprehend its ished, for we were met by a young because he had sinned, hid. But dynamic qualities."—ELTON TRUE- Jesus sought . . . He loved him back, BLOOD, The Incendiary Fellowship, woman who sparkled with the love of back to soul-saving repentance-- God. After greeting us warmly, she back to life from a death sentence. p. 30. proceeded to tell us of the success This God-in-man, living with man, Can you imagine what would hap- Evangelist Eldon Walters was having sought to save a Satan-divided pen if every Seventh-day Adventist in his meetings in the city. "You world . . Reread His cross-gory, suddenly turned every talent, every know," she said, dark eyes dancing, glory-story of redeeming love! energy, into the finishing of the work? "some people think we have to be If churches around the world deter- My Saviour is a bleeding linguist! mined to reach every home in their careful how we present certain truths, A • thorn-nail, spear-speaking but they are wrong. We don't have to linguist. It will be smart of you town or city? If groups gathered in water down our message. It's the to make this knowledge of Him a part the evenings to study the Bible and sweetest news this old world has ever of you; to ink it deep in the heart pray together? If each of us resolved to heard." of you, sink it in the very bone, live sacrificially, spending nothing un- I agreed so wholeheartedly that I nerve, and fiber of you—Ponder it . necessarily upon ourselves or our felt a momentary urge to hug her. Oh, See Him bleeding; hear Him pleading: homes? "If the central Christian con- I was glad she was my spiritual kin, "Yea,. I .have loved thee with an victions are accepted seriously, every glad that I had been exposed to her everlasting love: therefore with major human enterprise takes on new bubbling-over, uninhibited, Christ- lovingkindness have I drawn thee." excitement."—I bid. One writer puts it centered joy. Your Lord is a magnetic linguist. this way. "Jesus promised His disci- Do you have friends, even Can you resist Him? Consider well ples three things: that they would be one friend, with whom you talk of at what loss you toss His sacrifice entirely fearless, absurdly happy, and the coming of Christ, with whom you aside; walk to Him, talk with Him. that they would get into trouble." kneel to pray? Try this little experi- And meet Him at the cross! They accepted the challenge. ment, no matter how ridiculous or Will we? ++ REVIEW AND HERALD, December 31, 1970 3 NEVER gave up anything I in line had some pork sausage ground wanted when I gradually stopped up in the same mill in which I was I using flesh foods. I never "sacri- to have my beef ground. The mill was ficed" anything. Although I believe not cleaned or sterilized between that taking the best reasonable care grindings, and knowing how the mill of the body that one can under the was constructed, I suddenly realized circumstances is a part of religion, in that I was going to get perhaps a half my case religion had nothing to do pound of pork sausage with my ham- with my becoming a vegetarian. burger and that the customer follow- The "best reasonable care" princi- ing me would be getting the same ple does not make of me a fanatical amount of hamburger. Thus ground vegetarian who believes that it is a hamburger ceased to tempt my ap- sin under all circumstances for a per- petite. son to use flesh foods. If I were ship- Beefsteak, however, continued to wrecked and drifting on a life raft taste good, until I began to find out a on the high seas without food or water few things. One of my neighbors had for weeks, as were Rickenbacker and a cow that he had picked from his herd his crew during World War II, I must for his own milk supply because it state that a fish, fleeing from a preda- looked so healthy. One day an in- tor, which flopped on board my raft spector tested his cows and told him would probably be in as great danger that his special cow had tuberculosis from me as it was from its pursuing and must be destroyed. The neigh- enemy. bor refused to believe the inspector In the meantime, however, none of and refused to do anything until an- these special circumstances apply, and other inspector came out and retested I have lived happily and in excellent the cows, with the same result. health for more than half my life Still unbelieving, the farmer accom- without a single bite of meat and with- panied his cow to one of the larger out supplements or pills of any kind. packing plants and secured permis- I have traveled across the country sion to see it butchered. One entire many times, eaten in restaurants and lung of the cow was rotted away with in private homes where meat was on tuberculosis. Why I the table, and I have never found it The neighbor came home consid- necessary to change my general pat- erably disturbed. He had been paid tern of diet, nor have I been embar- a good price for the cow, far more rassed over the fact that my food was than it would be worth as fertilizer different from that on the plates of or even as dog food. He kept won- those around me. dering what happened to the rest of Became I say that I did not "give up" any- the cow. Shortly after this I had the oppor- tunity to take the children from my schoolroom on a field trip through this same packing plant. As we were a Vegetarian watching the carcasses of the animals being carried along on the overhead rollers, I asked our guide, a govern- thing when I stopped using flesh ment meat inspector, what would be foods. Let me tell you step by step done if a cow came in, say with a how it happened. One day in the Army our meat dish lung destroyed by tuberculosis. was liver. For some reason, the first Tubercular Cattle two or three bites did not taste quite right, but I kept on with my meal. "What would you do," he said in Then to my horror I cut into a por- answering, "if you got an apple with tion containing large pus pockets a rotten spot in it? You would cut with well-cooked worms inside! From out the rotten spot and eat the rest By MURL VANCE that day to this I have never looked of the apple, wouldn't you? That is a piece of liver in the face without exactly what we do here. It is the same my stomach's doing a little crawling. thing." Ground-beef hamburger used to be I noted the looks of horror on the one of my favorite foods. On learning faces of the children—I had pre- that regular hamburger is often adul- viously told them the story of the terated with all kinds of the odds and neighbor's cow—and when we got out- ends of meat products, I used to pick side, I asked them whether cutting a out a nice-looking piece of beef and rotten spot from an apple was "the ask the butcher to grind it for me. same thing." I just knew that I was getting a choice "No!" they shouted in unison. They product by taking this precaution. said that the blood from the diseased Then one day someone spoiled it lung was pumped all over the cow. all for me. A man just ahead of me I pointed out that there was still an-
The Ravraw AND HERALD is published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is printed every Thursday by the Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 6856 Eastern Ave., NW., Washington, D.C. 20012, U.S.A. Second-class postage paid at Washington, D.C. Copyright © 1970, Review and Herald Publishing Assn. Vol. 147, No. 57.
4 REVIEW AND HERALD, December 31, 1970 other difference between the cow and ment bulletin that in some mountain sight and thought were not too ap- the apple. Animals are afflicted with streams cancer is epidemic, particu- petizing. Of course, not all weiners disease germs that may take up resi- larly among trout, and that sometimes are thus packed, for there are not dence in our bodies. Apples are af- as many as nine out of ten have the enough intestines to supply the de- flicted with fungi that live on vegeta- disease. mand, so artificial casings have to be tion and not in flesh, and there is no I also learned that smaller fish, such supplied. But the "natural" casings constant circulation from the diseased as sardines, are canned without being are used first. part to the undiseased part. Even cleaned at all, the entire fish with its Thus step by step I simply lost my eating the rotten spot would probably entrails and contents going into the appetite for the carcasses of dead not result in a disease. can. My stomach said, "Fish? Ugh!" animals. I am perfectly willing that Thus my previous loss of appetite My appetite for "hot dogs" similarly my share of this type of food shall for certain types of flesh foods seemed disappeared. One day I had the privi- go to others. Without any self-denial to become still stronger. My stomach lege of watching weiners being pre- whatsoever, I very firmly joined the seemed to be getting an education pared for the market. On a table was ranks of the vegetarians, and flesh that caused it to tell me what kind of a large pile of entrails of the animals foods simply ceased to tempt my ap- food it wanted and what kind it did that had been butchered. I am sure petite. I have no quarrel with others not want. that they had been washed, but as who see things differently, and I am I read the statistics of the county the end of one after another was perfectly willing to grant them the health department of San Francisco, clipped to the spout of the machine liberty of eating what they choose. in which it was stated that six out of that forced the meat out through Should they not in turn grant me every ten autopsies revealed trichinae their length, I must confess that the the same privilege? ++ in hog carcasses. Horrified, the county health officer sent his inspectors with their microscopes into the packing plants and butcher shops to find out FOR THE YOUNGER SET why. The investigators discovered that, among other means of transmis- "I'm Coming, Mother!" sion, butchers' blocks were simply crawling with trichinae and that the By ETHEL R. PAGE disease was being transferred from these blocks to almost every piece of PATTY climbed to a high limb in the After the prayer, Patty felt sure she meat leaving the shop. Enough in- apple tree where brother Tom had would never do wrong again. fected pork was going across the blocks built a seat for her. Hidden by the For several weeks everything went to keep up the contamination. The branches, she was enjoying a story from a well. Patty's parents were very happy to same hands that were handling the new book Aunt June had given her. see her becoming so prompt. pork were also handling the beef and Just as she was at the most interesting Then one day she was back in her own part she heard mother calling. room sewing on a dress for her doll. She other kinds of meat. "Patty, where are you? Come here, heard mother call, "Patty!" She pre- The United States, I discovered, is please." tended not to hear. Soon she heard almost the only civilized country in "Yes, Mother, I'm coming," answered mother's footsteps coming down the hall. the world that does not require mi- Patty. They sounded very firm and fast. She croscopic examination of hog carcasses But she must read just a little more, sprang up and started to run from the to detect trichinae. to know what would happen next. She room, but she stumbled over her little meant to climb right down out of the chair and fell flat to the floor. Tumorous Chickens tree. But she was so interested she forgot "Oh! Ohl My ankle!" she screamed in and kept on reading. distress. Though I used to like chicken, on Then she heard mother's voice again. In a moment mother was beside her. visiting some of the egg ranches nearby "Patty, come here at once! I need you!" As she examined the ankle, she looked I lost all my appetite in this field "I'm coming, Mother!" Patty quickly very sober. also. I discovered that the poultry slid down the tree and ran to the house. "Oh, it hurts terribly," groaned Patty, ranchers regularly go over their flocks Now, Patty was a good little girl; that beginning to sob. and cull out the sick, nonlaying chick- is, most of the time. She did have a bad "I think we had better drive over to fault, though. She never wanted to come see Dr. Walker," said mother quietly, ens and send them off to market. I right away when mother or daddy called trying not to seem alarmed. saw some of these droopy, dirty-bot- her. They had often talked to her about "Do you think it's broken?" wailed tomed birds being taken to the proc- this, and punished her several times. She Patty. essing plants. To my horror, I dis- would always say she was sorry and "The doctor can soon tell us. Come, I covered that, at least at that time, promise to do better. Still she would will help you to the car." there was no type of inspection of dilly-dally with something she would After examining the ankle, the kind the birds going through the poultry rather be doing. doctor smiled cheerfully at Patty. "You slaughtering houses. My stomach Mother was troubled about how to are fortunate not to have been hurt quietly told me not to send any more help Patty overcome this bad habit. worse. The bone is cracked, but it is not Once more she took Patty to her room to a bad break. You will not be able to use dead chickens down the hatch. talk with her. it for some weeks, but in time it will be I still clung to fish, however. I "Patty, this is becoming serious. If as good as new." jokingly remarked that since fish you do not conquer this fault it will con- On the way home Patty was very quiet "take a bath every day," surely they quer you. You will grow up to be a care- and thoughtful. As they stepped from must be clean. Then we went fishing less person, slow and tardy in everything. the car she spoke. "Mother, it was all one day in a little mountain stream Nobody can depend on you. Nobody can my own fault. If I'd come when you in Arizona. I do not know what was have confidence in you." first called I would not have fallen and wrong with the fish in that stream, Patty's eyes filled with tears. hurt myself." "Really, I don't want to be like that, "I am very sorry it happened, dear," but I do know that nearly half of Mother. I'll try. Truly I'll do better." replied mother, as she slipped her arm the ones we caught had nauseating "We can't make ourselves better, dear. around Patty. "But I am sure you will tumorous growths on or in them. In Jesus must do that for us. Now, let us never forget again." reading up on the diseases of fish, I kneel right here and ask Him to help "Oh, I know I won't!" declared Patty. was amazed to learn from a govern- you." And she never did. REVIEW AND HERALD, December 31, 1970 5 tic tranquillity. Clean paths lined with blooming cannas or zinnias led to the huts. Hut walls were of red earth, their doors of rough-sawn lum- ber, their roofs of neatly trimmed thatch. These were cherished homes around which the activities of families centered. There was a mother pounding manioc flour under a banana tree in the back yard. A baby was tied to her back, reverse-papoose fashion, asleep with the rocking of her body as she rhythmically bent at her waist to drive pestle into mortar again and again. A hen and chicks scurried at her feet, pecking at particles that fell to the ground. Two larger children Barangas and his wife stand sat playing on a reed mat that lay on in the rubble that the bare ground nearby. A tethered once was home. Even in goat contentedly munched lush grass misfortune they feel gratitude. in the front yard. Mental Picture Shattered My mental picture was soon to be shattered. About sundown that eve- ning we entered the village and ap- proached the intersection. I was numbed by the sight. The palms re- mained, mute witnesses to the devasta- tion. Me ge Not a home was left standing. Every hut had been reduced to a heap of broken earth. From the rubble, sticks that had been part of the wall struc- ture jutted upward, their ends burnt to ugly, black, twisted points. The Sroteitelo landscape was deserted of anything living. The scene overwhelmed me with a' sense of utter desolation. "Do you think we'll find any peo- ple?" I asked. By LEVI KEIDEL "Let's go on to the house of the pastor who wrote us the letter," Bar- nabas replied. We drove through the road inter- section to the opposite edge of town. ATE my usual breakfast of oat- emerge from hiding in the forest. A There was the road that arched off meal and dried milk, brushed my pastor was among them. He had to the left and circled in front of the I teeth with a glass of boiled water, written us a letter: "Please come with church. There was the church; it was picked up my freshly packed, battered the book truck to our village of built of cement blocks with a cor- suitcase, and with two Congolese co- Tshintshianku. Bibles and hymnbooks rugated metal roof; it was intact. workers, piled into the loaded litera- have been destroyed in the fighting. But the parsonage hut to the left ture van. People are weeping and hoping for of it had been reduced to a heap of "Have you heard of any more fight- new ones." rubble like all the others. To the ing?" I asked, as I threaded the heavy The truck slowly ground its way right of the church was an old hut, van onto a rough dirt road leading through a sand pit. Then tires edged walls near its corner entryway crum- southeast out of the city. their way over huge round stones bling from either age or warfare; its "They say many villages have been protruding above the roadbed. The tattered thatch roof, black with age, burned to the ground," replied Bar- steering wheel tried to wrench itself tipped toward the entryway like a nabas. "But the soldiers are in control, from my grasp. The truck body lopsided hat ready to fall. and the rebels have fled to the forest." twisted and groaned in complaint. "Where could the pastor be?" I "People no longer give rebels sup- Tshintshianku was such a pleasant asked, as I braked the truck to a stop port like they once did," added Boni- village, I recalled. Huts for its 1,000 in front of the church. face. "Ever since independence came people lined the approaches to an im- Then in the gray of gathering dusk four years ago, we have suffered. Peo- portant road intersection and nestled I saw him, stooped low to clear the ple are tired of war." on adjacent slopes. Tall stately palm edge of the tipped-over roof, emerg- We never took the van into an area trees, their trunks frocked with light- ing from the broken entryway. Then where we knew there was trouble. green fernery, lined the roads with a followed his wife. He straightened Civil war had just raged across an natural disorderliness that was beauti- to his full height, smiled broadly, area 75 miles southeast of us. In its ful. waved a welcome, and called, "Hello, aftermath, people were beginning to The palms framed scenes of domes- preacher!"
6 REVIEW AND HERALD, December 31, 1970 They insisted we stay for the night. me. Through the course of the entire secutive years. There was a farmer They found chunks of logs for us to evening not a word of complaint fell working in a hayfield. "Aren't those sit on until they could borrow chairs. from their lips. Rather, they praised big cab tractors nice," I mused. "And She hunted something for us to eat, God that their bodies were un- look at his shiny pickup along the and found three sweet potatoes. She harmed, that they had each other, road." put them into what appeared to be and could start building again. I pulled into a filling station for her only cooking utensil—a shallow And this was the third time they'd gas. A farmer had also stopped. I white-enamel dish. She covered them passed through such an experience in struck up a conversation with him. with water and set them to cook on the past four years. "Crops look great," I said, gestur- an open fire nearby. ing to a nearby freshly tasseled corn- Back in the States The flat-bottomed basket she used field. to carry things on her head was Some months later my car was "We're hurting bad for rain," he turned upside-down on the ground at speeding down a highway in the Mid- replied. "Haven't had any for two our feet; its up-turned bottoms, to western United States. I had just re- weeks now. If we don't get some soon, be our table. She drained the water turned from the Congo, and was still the crop's going to be short this year." off the sweet potatoes and set them be- adjusting to such accouterments of Instantly on the screen of my mind fore us. We said grace and ate our an affluent society as instant balanced- there flashed the picture of an im- supper. diet breakfasts, toothpaste with sex ap- poverished pastor and his wife seated It was 11 o'clock when we retired peal, and soft-cushioned machines at a night bonfire telling their story. that night. The pastor and his wife rocketing along ribbons of smooth It raised a question that has been recounted to us in detail the terrible concrete. I was also perusing the uncomfortably nagging me ever since. events of past weeks. They had fled beauty of lush green fields of corn Why is it that people who have so to the forest, carrying what they could that lined the highway, fields that I little find it so easy to be grateful, in their hands. They'd lost virtually knew had unfailingly produced a gen- and we who have so much find it so everything. Their spirit overwhelmed erous harvest for more than 30 con- easy to complain? ++