September 8

Women Flood the Job Market

IF YOU asked a little girl a generation ago what she wanted to be when she grew up, she may have remarked: “A mommy.” Today, in the United States, if you asked the same question, the answer more likely might be: “The president,” or, “An astronaut and a mommy.”

It used to be that women with young children and who worked at a secular job were either pitied or criticized. But there has been such a shift in attitudes that more and more women now apologize if they are “just a housewife.”

Over 47 percent of all adult women in the United States now work outside the home, and the numbers are rising rapidly. Women account for about 40 percent of the U.S. labor force. In 1976 alone, a large new group of 1.5 million women went out and found a job.

This flood of women into the job market has surprised economists and Labor Department forecasters. They have called it “extraordinary,” and “the single most outstanding phenomenon of our century.” It was not expected that women would account for over 40 percent of the labor force, at least not until 1985.

It is similar in other countries. In Belgium, a Ministry of Health official blamed the reported increase of lice, fleas and cockroaches on women working outside the home. “Man and wife now more often go to work together in the morning,” he said, “and are often too tired to start cleaning up the house when they get back in the evening.”

In Israel, women serve as army drill instructors. “It increases the men’s motivation,” one explains, for “when I complete a two-mile run at the head of my platoon, no one drops out.”

What is surprising U.S. observers is not just the numbers of women suddenly desiring to work, but the ages of the women. In the last two years especially, the most striking increases have been among women between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four, the age group that traditionally stays home to raise their families. Many of these women are choosing to work, not because they don’t have husbands who support them, but because they prefer working outside the home “to just being a housewife.”

A Swinging Pendulum

Recent patterns of women in the job market have been like a swinging pendulum. Prior to World War I, women seldom worked outside the home, and then generally only in jobs considered suitable for women. Even typing and secretarial work was viewed as strictly a man’s job until the late 1880’s. But the labor needs of World War I brought women into the marketplace in force. Then, in the economic crash of 1929, women were the first to be fired in the wave of unemployment that swept the nation.

World War II, even more dramatically, brought women into the nation’s labor force in record numbers. They did all kinds of work formerly considered fit for men only, producing much of the war matériels. “Rosie the Riveter” became a national heroine of the day. But with peacetime, large numbers of women again returned to the home, as defense plants shut down and women were fired to make room for millions of returning servicemen.

Many women were glad to return home, and the spirit of the country strongly shifted away from encouraging secular careers for women. The wartime period of record numbers of workingwomen​—some 37 percent of all women—​was replaced by the highest marriage and birth rate in the twentieth century. But beginning around 1950, the number of workingwomen began to rise again, and by 1962 it was back up to 36 percent, just short of the record World War II level; and now, at over 47 percent, it continues to soar.

This has raised a hotly debated question: Where do women belong? In the home? On a job? Or both? But before considering this, let us examine reasons why women are entering the job market in such numbers.

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Child-development expert Urie Bronfenbrenner recently reported: “Over 50 percent of women with school-aged children are now employed. So are over one-third of those with children under six. In fact, one-third of women with children under three are working.”​—“Psychology Today,” May 1977.

Why Women Seek Employment

SOCIOLOGISTS cite several reasons why women seek employment outside the home. In particular, the modern woman simply has less to do in the home than her great-grandmother did. With longer life-spans, fewer children, more laborsaving devices and new convenience foods, a modern woman can find herself at age thirty-five with the youngest child in school and wondering how to fill the hours of a day.

For many women, working outside the home after the children are all in school or are grown has become a solution. As a result, by 1962 the average age of workingwomen in the U.S. was forty-one, as compared with twenty-six in 1900 and thirty-seven in 1950.

The mushrooming divorce rate​—in the U.S. alone over a million women divorce annually​—also pushes women into the job market. Often they must work to live. A recent study showed that court-ordered child-support payments, even when they are faithfully paid, typically are less than half the cost of rearing the children involved. This helps to explain why divorced and separated women now make up nearly two out of three women in the labor force.

Furthermore, as they see friends, neighbors and even parents divorcing, many modern women wonder whether it is not more prudent to plan on the possibility that they, too, may, later in life, have to support themselves. Is it realistic, women may ask, to count on a man for a lifetime of support? So working throughout marriage is seen by a woman as a form of insurance against finding herself, at forty, divorced and with children to support, and no job skills or work history on which to lean.

Another reason that many married women seek employment is to supplement their husband’s paycheck. With the high rate of inflation, some families need the extra money for necessities. Others simply want to purchase luxuries that the family could not otherwise afford, or to raise the standard of living to a level that the husband alone could not maintain.

If the husband’s work is seasonal or subject to periodic layoffs, income from a wife’s job can provide a stabilizing economic support, tiding the family over difficult times. Especially is this true since most women work in service professions, which are less likely to be quickly hard hit by unemployment than traditionally male-dominated fields such as construction and manufacturing.

A Dominant Influence

While the above factors have contributed to many women getting employment, the women’s liberation movement is apparently largely responsible for this trend. Concepts brought to the fore by the movement have caused many women, even those having no direct ties with it, to express a dissatisfaction with homemaking and to seek personal identity and independence. They desire to be involved in a world beyond their own family.

To some women, marriage itself seems on the way out, as no longer being a viable institution in the modern world with its new morality. Also, growing numbers of women are repudiating their traditional role​—that of nurturing the young. The U.S. birth rate is at an all-time low, down from 3.7 children for each family in 1957 to 1.8 in 1975, with the trend continuing to slide dramatically in 1976.

While in the 1950’s mothers had a tendency to stay at home with newborn and preschool children before entering the job force, many of today’s women don’t want to wait. The life of a housewife and mother, with its degree of isolation and emphasis on service to others, seems to many women today outmoded, boring and limiting.

“After my first daughter was born, I felt that I had given birth to her and that I had died myself,” says one young mother of two, a college graduate who was accustomed to working. “It was the end of me as an independent person with ties to the outside world.”

This woman found the adjustment to being a full-time housewife and mother depressing. “I decided to go back to work after I found myself buying ladies’ magazines with articles on things to make to save money,” she said. “I realized that I could make more money holding a job.” So leaving her two young daughters, one only a few months old, in the care of a housekeeper, she returned to work.

The view that a housewife is the “lowest of the low” as far as status is concerned has caused many women to seek employment. “If you stay home, people think it’s because you’re too dumb to hold a job,” one young woman explains. More husbands, too, are urging their wives to get a job. One encouraged his reluctant wife to return to work shortly after the birth of their first child. Why?

“Partly selfish on my part,” he says. “I don’t like coming home and hearing that the price of carrots has doubled.” He is afraid that eventually his wife will bore him if she stays in the home. “I think of her mother,” he explains. “She started out an intelligent woman but now I can’t remember her ever saying anything vaguely interesting. She’s never done anything except keep house, and the result is that her mind is now stultified. I don’t want my wife to be like that. Most of the things my wife does for the baby are strictly mechanical​—like cooking food and mashing it up, and so forth. You can take some pride in a job well done, but I don’t think that’s much fun or very interesting.”

A comparison of two surveys shows the effect of such attitudes toward the traditional role of women. In the survey taken in the 1960’s, before the women’s movement had such an impact on the average woman, 72 percent of the women polled said that they really liked their work as homemakers. Most of them even enjoyed, or said they didn’t mind, work defined as drudgery, like cleaning the house. But in a recent survey, only about half the women polled said that housework provided them even “occasional pleasure.”

But how do married women and mothers feel who take on the responsibilities of holding a job and caring for a home? Does this bring them satisfaction and happiness?

The Problems of Workingwomen

HEADLINES often tell of women having glamorous and well-paying jobs formerly held almost exclusively by men. Some become presidents of countries, government cabinet members, TV anchor women, stock brokers, and so forth. Yet it remains true that the vast majority of women have low-paying, low-status jobs, with very little chance of advancement.

The fact is, despite legal victories and federal laws outlawing discrimination against women in employment, the job picture appears to be getting worse for women workers, not better. “Progress? What progress?” the National Organization for Women admitted last year. “We are slipping back. Things are not even staying the same.”

Recent government statistics show that the gap between what the average man and woman earns has been widening, not narrowing, in the last twenty years. More than 80 percent of all workingwomen in the U.S. make less than $10,000 a year, while only 38 percent of all men do. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, some female college graduates earn only 60 percent of what male college graduates earn. Furthermore, a study by a New York research organization reported that more than two thirds of the increase in female employment between now and 1985 would be in modest clerical jobs, and that wages would continue to lag substantially behind men’s wages.

What this all means is that a woman who hopes to find an exciting job at a high enough rate of pay to provide her with financial independence is likely to be disappointed. Not only will her job probably be of a mechanical and menial nature, but also if she pays someone to care for her children while she is working, she may just barely break even, if that. For there are usually other costs: transportation, lunches away from home, a working wardrobe, higher priced convenience foods, laundry service, trips to the hairdresser​—all of which can take a big bite out of a paycheck.

On the Job Problems

Further, the work environment frequently can take a toll on a woman’s nerves. Many do not like the backbiting, office politicking, competitiveness and sometimes dishonesty of the “dog-eat-dog” business world. Nor is the moral climate always an upbuilding one. Many women have experienced sexual harassment on the job by male employees or bosses.

The Cornell Human Affairs Program conducted a survey on this subject and found that 92 percent of the women that they polled felt that sexual harassment on the job was a serious problem, and a full 70 percent said that they had personally experienced it. The poll showed that sexual harassment, which they defined as constant leering and ogling, squeezing and pinching, continually brushing up against a woman’s body, sexual propositions backed by the threat of losing a job, and, in extreme cases, even forced sexual relations, occurred across all job categories, ages, marital statuses and pay ranges.

What About the Home?

Another problem of many working mothers is that their job exhausts them. Yet, when they come home there are still many things there for which to care. In many cases, their taking on the extra burden of working outside the home does not result in their husbands’ pitching in and helping out at home any more than they did before their wives began working.

For example, consider a survey taken of women doctors in the Detroit, Michigan, area in 1976. It showed that besides being full-time physicians, three out of four of these women took care of all their families’ cooking, shopping, child care and money management. Two thirds of them had some domestic help one or two days a week to assist with laundry and cleaning, but the remaining third even did all their own housework.

The energy drain on such a woman can be a serious problem if she tries to carry such a superhuman load for long. Women who have tried to do it admit frankly that inevitably the housework suffers. One working mother acknowledged that she now removes towels from her drier and literally throws them into the linen closet to save folding time. Another said that her husband used to complain if she didn’t iron his handkerchiefs; now that she is working he is glad if she even takes them out of the drier and puts them in his drawer.

What Happens to the Children?

Although many husbands nowadays may be willing to overlook a great deal that they at one time expected of their wives, there is another matter that working mothers find harder to sweep under the rug​—the needs of their children. They may argue that it is the quality of time spent with their children, not the quantity, that counts, and there is truth to that. Yet a working mother may become so frazzled that both the quantity and the quality of time with the children suffer.

Recognizing this problem of working mothers, the authors of a book that encourages housewives to work offers this suggestion to them when they arrive home only to be greeted by their children wanting to tell them about their day: “Tell those adorable dimpled faces to button their lips until Mommy has 15 minutes alone in her room to make the transition, pull herself together, change clothes, and maybe have a quick martini. Lock the door if you must, because, as far as we’re concerned, this is a very important part of any working mother’s schedule.”

The problem with this advice is that the working mother may discover, as some have, that by the time she is ready for her children, they may have withdrawn from her. Their precious earnestness to share with their mother the things important to them has faded, having been replaced by a silent barrier.

One psychiatrist who specializes in the emotional conflicts of career women says that children don’t like to have their mothers working, period. “While the children rarely complain about the father being away from home, they freely express their anger at their mother for being away,” he claims. “The mother, they feel, should be for them alone.”

This psychiatrist claims that career women, due to the women’s liberation movement, have become intolerant of any kind of dependence. “For those with children,” he says, “it means that they expect their children to grow up as soon as they’re born. They want the children to be more like themselves, resourceful and independent. And the children are not prepared for this.”

Nor are small children the only ones that require attention, as one mother and homemaker, who has two grown children and one sixteen-year-old son still living at home, points out. “You have to prod children,” she says, “really show that you’re interested in them, in what happened to them that day. They won’t volunteer it. And if you’re not at home to discuss these things with them, they’re going to find someone else to confide in. How do you know but that they may choose to confide in someone immoral or immature?”

This mother went on to add: “Two girls in the neighborhood, whose mothers work, often come here to visit after school until someone is home. They tell me things that they never tell their mothers. When I suggest that they do so, they say that their mothers are too busy for them.”

The Problem of Success

Some women become real successes in the business world. They make a lot of money, exercise considerable influence and are respected by business associates. But their work often requires overtime and even travel. For a mother, this means having to leave not only her children but her husband as well. Yet refusing overtime and travel can mean losing her job.

One woman executive on the American Stock Exchange, a job traditionally classified as ‘male only’ until recently, needs to travel more than 30 percent of the time. She also has twin infant daughters. Her solution? She has a housekeeper daytimes and, when she is traveling, her husband baby-sits for her after he comes home from his job. When she is traveling, an average workday is from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m.​—a schedule that precludes mothering even if she were physically near her children.

So for a true “career woman,” the home and family must become secondary in importance, because, as anthropologist Margaret Mead points out: “The continuous care given to small children, a husband, and a household usually is incompatible with the single-minded pursuit of a career. The life style of the good wife and mother contrasts sharply with that of the good scientist, artist, or executive.”

Attempts at mixing an outside career and caring for a family often prove disastrous. One woman whose marriage broke up explains: “My work had become almost a lover to me. When I say my career comes very high in my life, it’s because it is my life.”

Yet even workingwomen who are not committed to a career need to recognize how deeply a job can affect their marital relationship. One woman who, after some twenty years of marriage, went back to work observes: “I think Lew misses having me home quite a lot . . . And now I get kind of irritated with ‘Come help me pack my bag.’ I think: ‘Pack your own bag!’ And I never used to feel this way. I was always delighted to help him because I felt that was what my role was.”

This brings us back to the question: Where does a woman belong? In the home? On a job? What is her proper role?

Should a Woman Work . . . or Not?

TRADITIONALLY the woman’s place has been in the home, not working at a job outside. In the past there was plenty for her to do at home, as it was said: “A man works from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done.”

Some argue that women still belong in the home, although in many places the situation has changed dramatically. For example, in over 47 percent of the marriages in the United States, both the husband and the wife hold a job.

Even those wives who have children often work. In fact, in the U.S. nearly half the wives with children under age eighteen have a job. And about a third who have preschool children are working at outside jobs. Commonly now day-care nurseries look after the young.

Pointing to the tremendous change, the U.S. Labor Department reports: “The concept of a family where the husband is the only breadwinner, the wife is a homemaker out of the labor force and there are children may be a useful one for many illustrative purposes, but it does not represent the typical American family of the mid-1970’s.”

Is this situation desirable? Is it best that a woman hold a job? What if she is married and has children?

When Working May Be Necessary

Many women today need to work outside the home. For example, millions are divorced or separated from their husbands; some have children to support. Holding a job may be the only way that they can meet living expenses. Many other women are single, perhaps waiting to marry, and these often must hold a job to support themselves. But what about women who have husbands and, perhaps, children?

With skyrocketing inflation, many of these, too, may need to work. The husband may be unable to make an adequate wage to support his family. (Jas. 5:4) So his wife might be called on to take a job outside the home. But are many families today really in need of two wage earners?

Some persons think so. In 1970, according to a U.S. Public Affairs pamphlet: “About 21 million women were working because they and their families needed the money to live on, for food, clothing, and housing.” The writer added: “These figures ought to demolish the myth, still believed by some persons, that a significant number of women in this country work only because they like to work or because they want extra money.”

No doubt some mothers with children, even those with a husband as well, need to work in order to help to meet living expenses. And what these married women do is in keeping with God’s purpose that a wife be a “helper” to her husband. (Gen. 2:18) But a serious question that the husband and wife should consider together​—especially if they have children—​is whether the wife really has to work outside the home.

Do Mothers Really Need to Work?

This is indeed an important question, because children need their mothers much more than many realize. Our Creator made women so that they could bear children. But he did more. He also instituted marriage and the family arrangement, equipping mothers to nurse and give the young the tender care that they really need. (Matt. 19:4-6; 1 Thess. 2:7) If husbands and wives fully appreciated this, perhaps they would adjust their way of living so that the mother could be at home with the children.

One young woman, looking back, feels strongly that she would gladly have done with fewer material things if she could have had her mother’s closer guidance and association. The woman explains:

“After I left home I roomed for a while with a girl who was raised in a much poorer home, and she really taught me the difference between what you really need and what you think you need. She was happy on beans and tortillas and secondhand clothes. I was not used to that. She taught me to be more thrifty and made me realize that my family spent more money than we really needed to.

“Maybe if we had been satisfied with less in a material way, my mother could have stayed in the home. Two of my sisters got into serious trouble​—one took drugs. I just keep wondering: What if someone had been at home to know what my sister was doing? These kids are exposed to the world all day in school. How can parents counteract all of that if they’re not home to talk with them in a natural way while doing things together, like baking or whatever?”

This is something for parents to think about seriously. More children are getting into trouble these days, and no doubt a big contributing factor is that their mothers are away from home working. One woman, who had an interesting job as a journalist, explains: “I wasn’t a militant feminist, but I had bought the woman’s movement line that any job was more important than taking care of children. It was supposed to be drudgery.” Nevertheless, this woman quit her job to care for her son and, after a period of adjustment, now prefers being a housewife.

Although not all mothers may be able to quit working entirely, perhaps they can compromise and obtain part-time work. In this way they may only be away from home when the youngsters are at school. It is suggested that women looking for part-time work try small companies, nonprofit organizations, banks, stores, tax-preparation firms, temporary agencies, and any company that hires large numbers of women.

Deciding What to Do

Does this mean that if a wife does not have children she should get a job outside the home if she so desires? Not necessarily. It is a matter that couples need to work out between them. Some men resent their wives holding a job, preferring to be the sole wage earner for the family. It may be important to them that their wives care well for their home, which generally precludes holding a full-time job.

One woman, who had gone to work after the children grew up, had such a husband. She explains: “I realized the situation was irritating him. We’d been married too many years for me to be blind to it. And then we talked about it and I just had to sift it all out. Was this job just an ego trip for me? I had to pay day-help almost as much as I was making, so it didn’t make much sense financially. . . . I wasn’t resentful about giving up my job. Hal needs a lot of backing​—who doesn’t—​to carry the load he does.”

But why do so many women feel unfulfilled unless they hold a job? Modern propaganda is largely responsible. As noted earlier, homemaking has lost status or prestige in the eyes of the world. A housewife is often viewed as a person not smart enough to get a job. But this is wrong; it takes real skill to be a good homemaker.

Just think for a moment: A wife must combine the talents of an interior decorator, teacher, secretary, nurse, maid, laundress and cook! Speaking of “the intricacies of keeping house,” one authority says: “It is without question one of the most complicated and many-sided operations one person is ever expected to handle.” Husbands who have had to manage the household in an emergency appreciate that doing a good job of it is no easy task.

Yet, wives need to be reassured that their work in the home is truly appreciated and is important. As one woman said: “When you’re home all the time you keep mumbling: ‘I’m a worthwhile person.’ But there’s nobody to say, ‘Sure, you are.’” So a good husband, especially today, wisely praises his wife for her work in keeping the home a clean, comfortable place to which to come home. And that managing a home is no easy job is evident from the lengthy Bible description of the work of a good wife.​—Prov. 31:10-31.

Obviously times have changed; circumstances are somewhat different from what they were in the past, requiring more women to work outside the home. Nevertheless, when the Scriptural encouragement is heeded for women to be “workers at home,” a more stable, happier family life is likely to be enjoyed.​—Titus 2:3-5.

A Meaningful Oath?

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates, sometimes called the ‘father of medicine,’ required his students to take an oath. For over two thousand years the graduating young doctors of many countries have repeated it. But how meaningful can this vow be today when we consider that one of the promises made is: “I will not give to a woman an instrument to produce abortion”?

Fishing in Arctic Waters

BY “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN NORWAY

SHRILL cries of seagulls and the monotonous humming of diesel engines meet the ear. The nostrils encounter scents of salt water and seaweed, as well as vapors of fresh and decaying fish.

Where are we? At Svolvær, a fishing village far north of the Arctic Circle. This is the site of one of the world’s largest cod fisheries.

Approaching the harbor are fishing cutters, their undersides extending deep into the water due to heavy cargoes of fish. The activity on shore is hectic; everyone is scrambling to his place, ready to unload and process today’s catch.

When I noticed Havternen, or “The Ocean Tern,” getting fastened to a quay, I seized the opportunity to speak with the skipper. He is a native of Lofoten, a large group of islands off northern Norway.

“The Lofoten fisheries have really changed,” he explains, “even if it is still a giant operation. During my youth, the Lofoten fishing season would involve some 32,000 men at work. Now it’s barely a tenth of that number.”

Fishing for “Skrei”

I learned that large fleets of fishing cutters hunt for skrei. These are six- to fifteen-year-old cod that come from the Barents Sea, northeast of Norway, to spawn. They seek out a location where warm, salty Atlantic water from the Gulf Stream mixes with cooler, less salty Arctic water. The resultant temperature and salinity lure shoals of cod to this location at the beginning of January each year. Along with the cod come fishing vessels from all over Norway.

I was curious as to the type of equipment used to haul in huge catches of fish. “A hundred years ago,” says the skipper, “we used boats with sails and oars, similar to the ancient Viking ships. Today we use engine-driven cutters between twenty and seventy feet (6 and 21 meters) long. These are furnished with advanced technical equipment.

“Most vessels use nets bound together in large links, often 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) long. These nets do not stand vertically in the water, but bulge out like a sail filled with wind, making it easier to entangle fish in the meshes. Others prefer the purse seine, a baglike net put out while the vessel is in motion and then hauled in by a winch when the boat lies still. Smaller boats may use lines with thousands of baited hooks. Or they may fish with what we call juksa, a single line with several fishhooks. When a fisherman jerks this line rhythmically, fish go after it.”

It seemed to me that so many fishing vessels at work with different types of equipment would result in much confusion. When I asked the captain about this, he replied:

“No, the fishing operations are subject to detailed regulations. The ocean itself is divided into fields, and vessels with the same kind of catching equipment must keep within the same fields. Patrol boats see to the enforcement of this law.”

Catching Herring

Besides cod, a fish that constitutes an attractive catch for fishermen of many nations is herring. The most important of Norwegian fishing activities has been for herring. Our skipper comments: “And they are even more exciting than the cod fisheries because herring are more of a gamble.

“The fishing efforts begin when herring move toward the Norwegian coast to spawn. We remain in harbor, waiting. When the radio flashes a message that herring is on the way, we leave port. As a herring measures only about twenty-eight to thirty-three centimeters [11 to 13 inches] in length, we generally use a purse seine with a fine mesh. On board everyone is tense, excited. The radio is on, tuned to a special ‘Fisheries Wave,’ and we all listen eagerly for reports of catches made.

“On the bridge of our boat alert eyes scan the sea. When sea gulls and terns are seen diving into the sea and coming up with herring in their beaks, we know that fish are there. Helpful too is an ‘echo sounder.’ This instrument sends out sound waves under water and records their echoes. If the sound waves bounce off a shoal of herring, we ‘see’ it on our registering screens.

“When this happens, we notify our seine master. He is the one who decides exactly when to throw the seine. Before doing this, he jumps into a small boat with another member of the crew and gets a close look at the herring shoal. Then comes the order: ‘Let go the seine!’ With a shrill whistle, the cutter circles the shoal at full speed, at the same time letting out the net. When the circle is closed, the seine becomes a purse. But the question is: ‘Did we get the shoal, or did it get away?’

“As the seine is being winched in slowly, carefully, we watch. When successful, the purse seems to have no water remaining in it; just glittering, silvery herring. A single throw of the seine may net us 300 to 400 tons of herring.”

When the Catch Is Hauled Ashore

I watched interestedly as barrels of fish were hoisted ashore. The fish were poured into a large basin, around which stood men with sharp knives. I observed one of them grab a fish. A cut opened the abdomen. Three quick movements of the hand disposed of the bowels. One or two more cuts and the head was off. Within seconds hard roe, liver and intestines ended up in three separate barrels, while the head went into a pile on the ground. Then it was on to the next fish with the same quickness and expertise.

After weighing and rinsing, some of this processed fish is put in large wooden boxes, cooled with ice and sent for immediate consumption all over the country. Another part of the catch is salted, dried and exported as klip fish. The largest part of the catch (around 50 percent), however, becomes “stock fish.”

This gets its name from being hung up on special stocks to dry in the open air. It remains on the stocks until summer. By then it weighs just a fraction as much as fresh fish. Stock fish has a high food value and does not easily decay. If a disaster suddenly strikes in an area, this type of fish comes in handy as an emergency food.

“Almost every part of the fish is utilized in some way,” our friend the skipper says. “For instance, children may earn good money cutting out the tongues from the fish heads. Many view fried cod tongues as a real delicacy for dinner as well as for sandwiches. The remains of the heads and other remnants go to fish-meal plants. The hard roe is frozen, canned or made into caviar. The liver is steamed into cod-liver oil, rich in vitamins A and D.”

Are We Robbing the Sea?

Our skipper has one big worry these days: “We are overtaxing the resources of the ocean. There is grave danger of total extermination for several types of fish.

“Take, as an example, fishing for herring. In the 1950’s oceanographers estimated the stock of winter herring at somewhere between fourteen and eighteen million tons. Today it is almost exterminated, and winter-herring fisheries are totally prohibited. Some voice the opinion that the only way to save winter herring is to prohibit fishing for them altogether. And the cod stock in the Barents Sea, the basis for Lofoten fishing activities, is in danger too. Though some refer to present-day catches as ‘good,’ oceanographers have termed the stock ‘alarmingly low.’”

I asked about the possibility of different nations coming to some agreement on common quotas so as to preserve stocks of fish. “That seems difficult to achieve,” said the skipper. “One problem is the reaching of agreement on how much each shall be allowed to catch. Even if they agreed on that, the quotas would be too high. Everyone is greedy. A notable example is what happened with whaling in Antarctica. Some decades ago tens of thousands of whales were caught down there each year. Today the whale is almost extinct in that area. And all that despite numerous conferences, lots of agreements and dozens of quotas! They just talked.

“Economic considerations further complicate matters. Fishing vessels with their equipment are costly. Such investments must yield interest. When stocks of fish diminish, bigger efforts are made to catch them. Moreover, other nations are expanding their fishing fleets at an explosive rate. They, too, want to share the riches off our Norwegian coast. You can see that setting limits on catches is not easy.”

Fishing in Arctic waters not only benefits mankind but is a vigorous and exciting activity. Depleted fish supplies do not stem from any inability of ocean life to reproduce sufficiently. The cause of this problem is the same as that resulting in so many others that afflict mankind​—human greed.

Would You Like to Make Home Movies?

By “Awake!” correspondent in Germany

SOME time ago we were invited to the home of our friends the Millers for an evening. Their little girl Tina welcomed us with her childish charm. “This evening we’re going to see a movie,” she said. “I’m in it too! Daddy made it all by himself.”

We were eager to see the film. When it finally came it was colorful, yes, very colorful. At first we thought it was modern art​—a lot of colorful spots swiftly whisked by on the screen. “That was our convention a couple of weeks ago,” Heinz Miller explained. Without his explanation, we would never have known.

Then it got quite dark on the screen; no one was sure what had happened. “Too bad,” Heinz said. “It was already late in the evening when I took that picture of grandma.” No one recognized her.

But, then, on the screen appeared Tina’s charming smile, clear and big as life. “That’s me,” she cried. The explanation was not necessary, for it was Tina as she is​—a good picture. Then other people were seen in the garden. But before one could identify them, the next scene appeared. Scenes flashed back and forth, up and down; at times one nearly got seasick. Every once in a while a dog could be seen. Aha, that was a game in the garden​—a wild chase! So it went for three minutes and seventeen seconds. The first reel was finished. Everyone applauded and agreed that the start of anything is always difficult.

Does that sound familiar? More than one person has seen such home movies or made them himself. As someone once expressed it: “I don’t admire his ability but his courage to show such a film.”

But, then, this should not be taken too seriously. One has to learn so as to avoid mistakes. There is no need to throw away that first film. It is a nice souvenir and a means for measuring any future improvement.

What does it take to get fine pictures? If the camera’s lens and mechanism are good, an experienced photographer can make better movies with a cheap camera than a beginner with the best and most expensive equipment. For good movies, then, it is necessary to improve one’s abilities. It is useless to try substituting lack of know-how with better equipment.

How to Avoid Blurred Pictures

One thing to avoid is blurred pictures. Doubtless you know that jiggling a camera when taking snapshots results in fuzzy, blurred pictures. If the camera is not held still when filming, the pictures also are jiggled. With a movie camera, eighteen pictures are taken in one second, so that in five seconds of jiggling you have ninety blurred pictures. Hence, the camera must be kept dead still. Do not try to substitute lack of motion in front of the camera with camera movement. With some exceptions, this is a basic rule.

Another thing that must be watched is the time allowed for exposure. Time plays a more important role when filming than when just taking one picture. Our mind requires time to register conscious impressions. When pressing the shutter release button, think primarily about your prospective audience, not how much film you are using (beginners always want to save). Consider how much time is needed to comprehend the scene. This depends on what there is to see or what is happening. The simplest rule is: When there is much to see, or much action, the scene has to be longer. If there is little to see and not much movement, the scene must be shorter. Yes, it must be. Otherwise it will be boring.

Two to twelve seconds of exposure may be sufficient. When you press your shutter release, count the seconds​—twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, and so forth. (If you are filming a text, read it through twice while filming; that is sufficient.) Never make the scene too short. If it is a little too long, it can always be shortened when you are editing or cutting the film.

You should also keep in mind that your eye and the camera’s eye are very different. The camera’s eye is only a poor imitation of the human eye. Therefore, do not expect to see on the screen what your eye saw. The human eye can also adjust to and register much greater contrasts in light than can the camera. When it is still light enough for the eye, it may well be much too dark for the camera. Then, again, in snow and brilliant sunlight it can be much too bright for the camera. When it comes to great contrasts, the camera has limits. For example, the shade of a tree on a sandy beach will give the camera trouble. The fully automatic exposure in most cameras only adapts to an average value. This means that on the screen the sand may either be too light or the shadow too dark. Since the film cannot register both correctly at the same time, one has to decide which is more important for the scene.

At times the human eye has difficulty adjusting from bright sunlight to shade. It takes time for the eye to get accustomed to a change. The light meter of a camera also needs time to adjust to a change in lighting conditions. So, if you want to film scenes wherein there is great contrast, give your light meter time to adjust. Otherwise, part of your film will be either overexposed or underexposed. Sometimes it is good to make manual adjustments, if that is possible.

Have you ever wondered why your pictures are sometimes very yellow or blue, although all conditions are normal? The human eye works in cooperation with the brain. Like a computer, the brain compares the impressions it receives with experience and makes the necessary corrections. This the camera cannot do. Therefore, if you use a film that is made for artificial light and you take pictures in the sunlight, the scenes will be quite blue. A film for daylight would appear yellow when you are filming in artificial light. If you use film for artificial light when filming in the daylight, you will need to use a filter. Of course, this filter has to be removed when you are filming indoors.

If you want to get closer to your object than the distance your lens will allow, you will have to put “glasses” on your camera or the picture will not be sharp. With most cameras the distance has to be set manually. If the camera has a zoom lens and a built-in range finder, one always has to use the greatest focal length for setting.

Doubtless you have noticed that some people always have clear pictures. The explanation is very simple. They always throw the blurred, overexposed, underexposed or otherwise ruined pictures into the wastebasket.

Editing Film

Despite your best efforts, doubtless you will make mistakes, even if it is only pushing on the shutter release without realizing it. For this reason, if you desire to show quality films, a splicer and a film viewer are essential. Overexposed spots and the like can simply be cut out.

Editing film for a showing also includes arranging it as desired and then splicing it to match the theme or the setting that you choose. A “scene arranger” can be made very easily. Take a small strip of lath and, about every inch or so, drive a thin nail into it. By means of the perforations, you can hang film on these and number the nails. With the aid of the numbers and a short note regarding a particular scene’s contents, you can easily sort and arrange the film strips into logical sequence.

This is also a help in shortening scenes that are too long and in determining whether scenes have to be filmed. To determine the length of the individual scenes, make yourself a ruler. Just a piece of lath will do. Then take eighteen pictures from a piece you are throwing away and mark the length of your straightedge accordingly. Eighteen frames being the number of pictures taken in one second, you now have a means of determining the length of a scene in seconds. This does not cost anything and can be a big help.

The Projector

A projector is, of course, a vital part of movie equipment. It should be durable, should give enough light and should not scratch the film. Also, a quiet machine is desirable, as this type makes it easier for any comments or musical accompaniment to be heard during a showing. Moreover, it is good to have at least one, or better still, two extra bulbs on hand. Often a good showing must be discontinued because no extra bulbs are available.

A Hobby to Be Controlled

Filming can be a very instructive hobby and very interesting, but only if it remains a hobby. Do not let it become your second vocation and a burden that crowds out more important things. In its place, filming can enrich one’s life and train the eye to be more observant. It can also be a fine means of letting one’s friends enjoy delightful scenes.

We anxiously await the next movie at the Millers. Will there be any improvement?

Is It a Christian Practice?

By “Awake!” correspondent in El Salvador

THE evening was warm, with the typical humidity of the tropics. As my wife and I rounded a certain corner on our way home, something interrupted our thoughts and conversation. We were hearing the sounds of what seemed to be a fiesta, or party.

Drawing near the house from which the sound came, we noted the usual evidences of a wild party. Some had become loud and belligerent from heavy drinking. On the sidewalk just outside the house men were arguing.

But there was something different about this gathering. Everyone in attendance was dressed in black. After crossing the street to avoid the crowd, something in the house caught our eyes. At one end of the room was a small casket, apparently that of a child. Wreaths (coronas) of flowers covered the casket. In front of it someone had placed candles.

All of this filled us with curiosity. Evidently noting our puzzled expressions, a man walking on our side of the street approached us and explained: “Es una vela,” meaning: “It’s a wake.” He added: “They’ll be there all night.”

This left us with many questions. We wondered: What is the purpose of staying awake throughout the night in the presence of someone dead? Why adorn the coffin with wreaths and put lighted candles nearby? Since someone had died, was it appropriate for mourners to engage in heavy drinking and partying? Is holding all-night wakes for the dead a Christian practice?

Digging Up Some Answers

We returned home that evening determined to dig up some answers to these questions. Our research included interviews with persons here in El Salvador, as well as consulting reference works. What did we find out?

The Spanish-language Enciclopedia Ilustrada Cumbre notes that the purpose of a wake is to be with the family of the deceased and to bestow homage upon that one. Not always is the body in a casket. At times it may be left on the deathbed. Religious objects and lighted wax candles usually surround the corpse. On occasion the wake includes burning herbs or incense as well as placing flowers around the coffin. As was the case with the wake we observed, frequently the household provides food and drink for mourners in attendance.

We discovered that customs at wakes vary somewhat in different areas. For example, in some Latin-American countries a dead child is placed in a chair and dressed as an angel. This is in the belief that the youngster’s “immortal soul” will go straight to heaven. In the same vein, we read in El Salvador’s daily paper, El Diario de Hoy:

“In some communities of El Salvador and Central America when someone dies, especially if it is a child, fireworks are set off and joyful songs are sung to the beat of guitars and violins. Tamales are made along with pastry and these are served with alcoholic beverages. . . . The people from these communities believe that the children fly immediately to heaven and turn into ‘little angels of God.’ According to those who know, this custom of singing in a wake or burial occasion is a rare mixing of Christianity with unknown native [Indian] traditions.”

Non-Christian Origin

That last expression, “a rare mixing of Christianity with unknown native [Indian] traditions,” emphasized an important point. Wakes do not have a Christian origin. Confirming this is an item in the Encyclopædia Britannica regarding wakes in England:

“The custom, as far as England was concerned, seems to have been older than Christianity, and to have been at first essentially Celtic. Doubtless it had a superstitious origin, the fear of evil spirits hurting or even removing the body, aided perhaps by the practical desire to keep away rats and other vermin. . . . With the introduction of Christianity the offering of prayer was added to the mere vigil, which until then had been characterized by formal mourning chants and recitals of the life story of the dead. As a rule the corpse, with a plate of salt on its breast, was placed under the table, on which was liquor for the watchers. These private wakes soon tended to become drinking orgies.”

Besides the non-Christian origin of wakes, the ceremonies that accompany them, such as the use of wreaths and lighted candles, as well as the strange custom of dressing dead children to look like “angels,” are opposed to Christianity. How so? Because these things suggest to many that people have an immortal soul that goes on living after death.

The Bible, however, presents death in an entirely different light. Jesus’ words about one of his friends who had died are revealing. We read: “‘Lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but I am journeying there to awaken him from sleep.’ Therefore the disciples said to him: ‘Lord, if he has gone to rest, he will get well.’ Jesus had spoken, however, about his death. But they imagined he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. At that time, therefore, Jesus said to ‘them outspokenly: ‘Lazarus has died.’”​—John 11:11-14.

Jesus likened death to sleep. Just as people are unconscious while asleep, so the Bible assures: “As for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.”​—Eccl. 9:5; Job 3:11-13; Ps. 146:3, 4.

Does this mean that we can never again see our dead loved ones? On the contrary, Jesus promised: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” (John 5:28, 29) During his earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated his power in this regard. The Bible records three resurrections that he performed. (Luke 7:11-17; 8:41, 42, 49-56; John 11:1-44) Interestingly, when resurrected, the deceased individuals came back to life as humans. Jesus was thus demonstrating the certainty of the resurrection hope, rather than the survival of an immortal soul into some invisible realm.

Our research was indeed revealing. Summing up, we learned that all-night wakes for the dead originated in pre-Christian, non-Biblical religion. Also, this custom promotes the false belief that at death an immortal soul passes on to life in an invisible realm. Bible principles, too, are violated at wakes due to the heavy drinking and unrestrained conduct that often occur.​—Rom. 13:13, 14; 1 Pet. 4:3.

Of course, visiting bereaved persons to offer comfort and help is a fine thing. Whether one does this during visiting hours at a funeral home or otherwise is a matter of personal choice. However, observing extended periods of mourning and all-night vigils is not a Christian practice.

The Sarawak Pepper Gardener​—Spice Supplier to Your Table

As related to “Awake!” correspondent in Malaysia

IN THE year 1897 my great-grandfather Ting sailed from China for Sarawak, to begin a new life at the foot of a jungle-carpeted mountain range. He had been invited by some friends to join a growing number of families from southern China. Together with the native Sarawakians, they engaged in cultivating some of the finest and most fragrant pepper available in the world.

In later years many immigrants found it more profitable to grow rubber, but the pepper industry did revive. Today Sarawak has more than 21,000 acres (about 8,500 hectares) of pepper gardens and ranks with India, Indonesia and Brazil as one of the world’s most important pepper-growing regions. The gardens in Sarawak, each averaging an acre (.4 hectare) or less, produce a quarter of the world’s pepper.

For pepper cultivators the busiest time is from March to October. March is the fruit-setting season. During June and July the whole family is busy harvesting the peppercorns from firm ladders placed alongside the twelve-foot ( 3.7-meter ) vines. Our own garden extends over an area of two acres (.8 hectare) and we have over 1,300 vines from which to collect the berries that hang down in small clusters.

After being harvested, the peppercorns must be cleaned, blown, brushed, washed, dried and graded before they are ready to be brought to the table.

To ensure a good crop, one must insist that visitors use the footpaths. About ten years ago, all our vines were destroyed by the dreaded foot rot. This disease is easily transmitted and can ruin large acreages of vines in a very short time. The disease probably was brought to our tract of land by someone who had walked through an infected area.

Something else that must be watched is fertilizing. During one period, when pepper prices were rather high, father decided that he could afford to give the vines extra fertilizer. But the results were most disappointing. In fact, the harvest was not as good as in previous years. Now, with proper fertilizing, our vines produce more than 27,000 pounds (12,250 kilos) of green berries annually. The vines are seven to eight years old, just the right age for high yields. In the future we expect the amount harvested to decline.

Methods of Producing White and Black Pepper

It is commonly thought that there are two distinct types of pepper, black and white. Actually, only the processing of the berries is different. From our 27,000 pounds (12,250 kilos) of berries we can produce either 7,200 pounds (3,260 kilos) of white pepper or 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilos) of black pepper.

The Pepper Marketing Board of Malaysia believes the process of bleaching pepper with chemicals is unnecessary, and so Sarawak white pepper reaches your table unadulterated. Our method of processing pepper is typical. We pluck the berries when one of the fruits on the spike becomes red. Next we load the harvested berries into jute sacks. The sacks are then carried to a pond fed by a stream. Here the berries are soaked completely for about ten days until the pericarp softens and rots. The berries are then emptied into a tub, where we trample on them with our feet and afterward wash them clean to remove the decayed pericarp, along with the stalks. Next the berries are soaked for another day or two before being washed a second time. We hope for a minimum of three days of dry, sunny weather so that we can dry the peppercorns outside on woven grass mats.

Delay in drying will adversely affect their white color and spicy flavor. If the weather is wet or otherwise unfavorable, we must keep the peppercorns submerged in water. If removed and placed in damp air, they are likely to mold.

Sometimes we find it more profitable to sell black pepper. When this is the case, we prefer to dry only the green berries. (Red or yellow berries, when dried, will produce a pepper of uneven color.) The stalks, with their green berries, are first stored for a couple of days. This makes it easier to push the berries through the mesh and to take out the unwanted stalks. The berries are then dried on the grass mats, without soaking them beforehand, as when producing white pepper. The dried pepper is cleaned and blown, to remove any extraneous substance.

How do we test peppercorns to determine whether they are well dried? One way is simply to let them run through our hands. If properly dried, they will run freely and not tend to stick together. But I feel that the best method is to crack one of the berries between the teeth. If the pepper has the desirable low-moisture content, it will grind to powder rather than split in two.

Marketing the Pepper

Pepper is like money to us. It can be kept for a long period without deteriorating in quality. In fact, we have set aside a small dry room in the house for pepper storage. This room could be called our savings bank. Here the pepper is kept in jute sacks imported from Pakistan. To give it more strength, the filled sack is placed inside another one. Plastic bags cannot be used, as these reduce the quality of the pepper. We try to determine the right time to sell our valuable produce, taking it either to the dealers or to the exporters, who will purchase it at the market rate for the day.

Some small-scale pepper cultivators living in remote areas, however, are obliged to sell their produce to the nearest village shop. Sometimes the tracks to their gardens are too narrow for a small pick-up van and, therefore, the heavy sacks must be placed on a bicycle and wheeled out, one at a time, to the nearest road. Still other growers bring their produce to the shop by river. In these cases, the shopkeeper provides the farmers with household goods, hand tools and fertilizer in exchange for the pepper the farmers bring to the shop. The growers instruct the shopkeeper when to sell. Usually the relationship between the parties concerned is cordial. However, I have heard my brother talking of cases where the shopkeeper exploits the pepper grower.

Not many years ago father, too, transported his pepper by bicycle. Times have changed and now we have a small pick-up van of our own. We take our pepper and other produce to the Main Bazaar in Kuching. This enables us to earn a few extra dollars by selling to the exporters. Some of these exporters are able to deal directly with overseas buyers.

By far the majority of the peppercorns will be sent to Singapore, where the spice traders specially grade the pepper to meet the specifications set down by such important bodies as the American Spice Traders Association.

Truly, we pepper farmers enjoy a fine outdoor life, as well as satisfaction in our work. Though we are far from rich in material possessions, we find pleasure in growing this rather special spice that serves so well as a seasoning. The next time you shake pepper on your food, think of me. Who knows? That very pepper might have been grown on our Sarawak acreage.

Peering into the Amazon Jungle

By “Awake!” correspondent in Peru

THE small jet plane is winging its way eastward over the Peruvian Andes bound for the vast Amazon jungle. Leaving the snowcapped peaks behind, we peer out the window. Below us stretches a vast carpet of hazy green. Examined more closely, the landscape resembles a mass of densely packed florets of broccoli. As in a work of embroidery, the “loops” of meandering rivers and the “eyelets” of lighter green, formed by the spreading tips of palm trees, add a pleasing variation to the scene. Soon the plane begins its descent. The green carpet transforms itself before our eyes into a staggering variety of trees of contrasting size and description.

The Amazon jungle is known as the richest plant area on earth. Tens of thousands of varieties have been identified. On just about every square mile (2.6 square kilometers), well over a hundred different kinds of trees flourish. Depending on geographical differences in altitude, there may be dense thickets of mangrove trees, ebonies, fine mahoganies, cedars and aromatic rosewoods, chestnuts, tall brazil-nut trees, various types of willows and the handsome rubber trees. Interspersed among all of these are numerous varieties of palms and tropical fruit trees. Branches drip heavily with vines and creepers. So thick is the greenery that treetops struggle toward a barely visible sky.

At ground level the array of plant life is simply spectacular. Unusually shaped leaves and grasses of every assortment and kind intermingle. Hugging the ground is an endless variety of plants, with foliage in combinations of green, red, pink, purple, yellow and white. Other low-growing plants serve as borders for tiers of pithy cactus-type spikes, short palms, bushes and large-leaf vegetation like the giant ‘elephant ears.’ Frothy ferns add a delicate touch in paler greens. Climbers greedily clutch at any remaining space.

In many areas vivid flowers brighten the scene. There are beds of blossoms in pinks and reds. Little yellow flowers peek out between gnarled roots. Clumps of bright orange, deep crimson and white blooms may be seen hanging from branches. Then there are gorgeous sprays of delicate orchids nestling against tree trunks or cascading from branches. Not a leaf stirs in the humid air.

Signs of Creature Life

What about creature life? Fat-bellied Tangarana ants swarm over the Palo de Santo tree. In return for a permanent dwelling, these ants protect the tree from the slightest touch of any invader. Down on the jungle floor, leaf-cutting ants march in single file, each carrying a sizable piece of leaf. Countless beetles dart here and there or quickly take to flight. Especially noticeable is the largest of all beetles, titanus giganteus, measuring about six inches (15 centimeters) in length. Occasionally one may catch the flash of a firefly, visible in the permanent dusk of the dense underbrush. Brilliant butterflies and huge, strange-looking moths take wing. Nearby, frogs are croaking. Underfoot, curious green and gray lizards dart away, while little salamanders scamper up trees.

Somewhere out there are giant anacondas​—with measurements of up to forty feet (12 meters) in length and two and a half feet (.8 meter) in diameter being claimed for some of the largest of these snakes. Of the 250 kinds of reptiles said to dwell in the Amazon jungle, few are actually poisonous. Unless surprised or molested, the predatory varieties kill only for food, and man is not a part of their diet.

Contrary to popular opinion, the jungle is not entirely populated by large and dangerous animals. In the South American jungle, the largest animal is the hog-sized tapir, with pumas and jaguars as runners-up. Catlike tigrillos, long-snouted anteaters, armadillos and ocelots share the underbrush. Foxes, raccoons, little deer and many types of rodents find their niche on the jungle floor. Under ordinary conditions none of these are known to be a threat to humans. Of the 14,712 varieties of animals reportedly inhabiting the Amazon area, over 8,000 are said to be unique.

Creature Life in the Trees

By far the greatest concentration of fauna lives in the trees. Screams and raucous screeches identify worlds of parrots, macaws, toucans and multitudinous other known and little-known kinds of birds. Add to this the chattering of parakeets, the coos and warbles of doves, whippoorwills and the like, as well as the rat-tat-tat din of the woodpecker, and you begin to sense the busy world above you. Several kinds of quaint-faced, loose-membered monkeys swing nimbly from limb to limb, chattering and scolding. Circling high above the treetops, alert vultures await a meal. Their voracious appetites keep the area clean of decaying flesh.

Here and there are pools with giant lily pads hiding bright, tropical fish. Everywhere there are little streams of brownish, leaf-dyed water. Eventually everything flows to the Amazon, the highway of the jungle.

Life in the Waters

In the waters of the Amazon jungle, there are stingrays, electric eels, caimans, turtles and the sharp-toothed pirañas that may strip an animal of its flesh in just a few minutes of seething activity. One has to check with the local natives before swimming in any of these waters. Jungle waters are not necessarily good swimming pools! Nevertheless, you will see little groups of native children splashing in some of the sluggish jungle rivers. This brings us to the people of the “Great River” area, an interesting contribution to the temperament of the jungle.

Its People

Three or four centuries ago there may have been at least 230 different tribes of Indians inhabiting the region. They lived in small isolated communities, generally confining themselves to certain geographical areas. Among the domains of tribes still recognized today are those of the Jivaros, Aucas, Campas, Chamas, Machiguengas and Shipibos. Perhaps only twenty or so well-defined tribes remain. Their needs are few​—perhaps a log home, a hammock or two, a blow gun and a spear. Their diet consists mainly of yucca, bananas, turtle and fish.

The Amazon jungle is indeed a fascinating area​—a tranquil place. The still, humid atmosphere is occasionally disturbed by tropical thunderstorms. These and the exotic sounds from a great variety of animals, however, do not really ruffle the immense, placid jungle. Although many kinds of creatures make the jungle their home, it is not an environment fraught with tremendous perils for those who respect the “Do Not Disturb” signs.

What Is the Bible’s View?

Why Does God Allow His Servants to Be Persecuted?

PERSECUTION of God’s servants has an ancient history. Abel, a son of the first humans, suffered a violent death at the hands of his brother Cain. (Gen. 4:8; 1 John 3:11, 12) Since that time many others have experienced bitter persecution. Why has God permitted this?

The Scriptural record of a conversation about faithful Job sheds much light on the matter. We read: “Jehovah went on to say to Satan: ‘Have you set your heart upon my servant Job, that there is no one like him in the earth, a man blameless and upright, fearing God and turning aside from bad?’ At that Satan answered Jehovah and said: ‘Is it for nothing that Job has feared God? Have not you yourself put up a hedge about him and about his house and about everything that he has all around? The work of his hands you have blessed, and his livestock itself has spread abroad in the earth. But, for a change, thrust out your hand, please, and touch everything he has and see whether he will not curse you to your very face.’”​—Job 1:8-11.

Here Satan claimed that Job was serving the Most High only for selfish reasons. It was the adversary’s contention that, once the material benefits were removed, Job would prove unfaithful. This really is Satan’s claim regarding all of Jehovah’s loyal servants. That claim also constituted a reproach on God’s holy name. How so? It made it appear that Jehovah’s rulership is of such inferior quality that no one would submit to it if there were no selfish benefits to be gained.

Therefore, as in the case of Job, Jehovah God has not shielded his servants from persecution. This has enabled them to prove their unselfish love for him and their earnest desire to have the good name of their heavenly Father cleared of all reproach. In fact, they have counted it a privilege to suffer for righteousness’ sake and thus to contribute to the vindication of God’s holy name and toward proving Satan’s contention to be a lie.

The persecution that the Almighty has permitted to come upon his servants has also served other noble purposes. This is evident from a consideration of words directed to Christianized Hebrews: “In carrying on your contest against that sin you have never yet resisted as far as blood, but you have entirely forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not belittle the discipline from Jehovah, neither give out when you are corrected by him; for whom Jehovah loves he disciplines; in fact, he scourges every one whom he receives as a son.’ It is for discipline you are enduring. God is dealing with you as with sons.”​—Heb. 12:4-7.

The Christianized Hebrews here addressed had not yet faced the supreme test of having their lifeblood shed. Nevertheless, the lesser persecutions were evidently discouraging some from continuing to carry on the contest against the sin of losing faith and apostatizing. For this reason, they needed to be reminded that the rough treatment experienced at the hands of persecutors actually served as discipline or training from Jehovah. Though very painful, the persecution that the Almighty permitted was for the good of his spiritual children. Christianized Hebrews were told: “No discipline seems for the present to be joyous, but grievous; yet afterward to those who have been trained by it it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness.”​—Heb. 12:11.

Those Christianized Hebrews had been chosen as joint heirs of the Lord Jesus Christ. As such, they would share with him in serving as kings and priests for mankind. (Rev. 5:9, 10) So, by faithfully putting up with persecution and maintaining integrity, they would be perfected for their position in the heavens.

This is well illustrated in the case of Jesus Christ himself. He had always been obedient to his heavenly Father. Nevertheless, while on earth he learned obedience under unfavorable circumstances. He suffered much, including a shameful death on an execution stake. Why? One reason for this was to perfect him for his office of high priest. Hebrews 4:15 states: “We have as high priest, not one who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in all respects like ourselves, but without sin.”

Similarly, Jesus’ associate king-priests, in having been subjected to suffering, are able to “deal moderately with the ignorant and erring ones,” as were the imperfect Aaronic priests in ancient Israel. (Heb. 5:2) Of course, suffering in itself does not qualify them for their office. Rather, it is faithfulness under pressure that determines whether they will be worthy of gaining the marvelous reward of heavenly life as Jesus’ associate king-priests.

These Kingdom heirs are not the only ones that experience persecution. Actually, anyone who does not go along with the world’s ways, attitudes and actions will incur the world’s hatred. (John 17:14) This serves as a test of one’s true heart devotion and determines whether one can be used by Jehovah God to accomplish what he wants done. Hence, what Jehovah’s servants experience in the way of persecution is really part of their training for the future. For example, the kingdom of God in the hands of Jesus Christ will have earthly representatives, “princes.” These “princes” are men who have proved faithful under test and, therefore, can safely be entrusted with weighty responsibility.​—Ps. 45:16.

So, when subjected to suffering for righteousness’ sake, we should remember that persecution is not an evidence of God’s displeasure. No, it proves that we are his servants whom he deeply loves and whom he is disciplining or training for his good purpose. The apostle Peter pointed out that it confirms that true Christians have God’s spirit. We read: “If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy, because the spirit of glory, even the spirit of God, is resting upon you.”​—1 Pet. 4:14.

The Scriptures truly make it clear that there are sound reasons for Jehovah’s permitting his servants to be persecuted. Foremost is the presenting of undeniable evidence that Jehovah deserves to be loved and obeyed and that Satan’s claim respecting the servants of the Most High is false. Additionally, persecution has served to discipline or train God’s servants, equipping them to do what he has in mind for them. May we, therefore, not give out when persecuted but prove ourselves faithful under test. Only then can we be ‘vessels for an honorable purpose, useful to our heavenly Father, prepared for every good work.’​—2 Tim. 2:21.

Watching the World

Argentina Court of Appeals Renders Its Decision

On June 16, 1977, this court gave its long-awaited decision with regard to the ban on activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Argentina. It stated that, with certain exceptions, “the measures applied to the plaintiff [Jehovah’s Witnesses] . . . are left without effect.” In other words, the decree against Jehovah’s Witnesses was overruled. However, on July 1, the Argentinian Ministry of the Interior took the case to the Supreme Court, so that, until that court reaches its decision, the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Argentina continue to be banned.

When to Start Reading?

Most parents wait for public education to teach their children to read. But a University of Minnesota professor recently told the International Reading Association convention that “a child who has been read to at home will have very little problem learning to read in school.” He says that “the child who has been read to at home learns order and intelligence and fluency,” whereas those not read to see “in the printed word a great complexity.” According to the professor, six months old is not too early to start, and, by two or three, children should be encouraged to participate by having them follow the print as you read aloud.

Tobacco Religion

“We wouldn’t be here without tobacco,” declared a member of the North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church as he argued against a resolution to convert tobacco lands to the production of useful crops. “This is a classic example of biting the hand that feeds you, of killing the goose that lays the golden egg,” he said. “Where do you think North Carolina Methodists get their money?” Christian Century reports that the resolution was voted down “by a margin of 2 to 1.”

Departing Spirits Take Toll

Mourners all over Japan are observing the thirty-third anniversary of the death of loved ones in World War II, and Japan’s 1.7 million Buddhist priests are hard pressed to conduct all the memorial services required. One priest “has stopped smoking to protect his overworked vocal cords,” reports Time magazine. But “the work has its secular compensations,” it remarks. “Temple offerings range from $100 to $3,000 per service.”

Mormon “Roots”

Three researchers claim to have proved that Mormon founder Joseph Smith did not translate the entire Book of Mormon, as claimed, from ancient golden tablets. Prominent handwriting experts who were not told the Mormon connection, examined photocopies of twelve original manuscript pages, along with known handwriting specimens of Solomon Spaulding, a Congregational minister and novelist who died in 1816.

All three experts are said to have independently concluded that Spaulding’s hand wrote all the documents. It is alleged that this portion of the Book of Mormon may have been lifted from an unpublished Spaulding novel about American Indian origins. Interestingly, a comparison with the King James Version of the Bible will reveal that Smith used large sections almost word for word, even using the 200-year-old, out-of-date English from that version and its errors in scholarship.

Soviet “Other Woman” Solution

“With 170 brides for every 100 bridegrooms our women must accept the role of The Other Woman instead” of marriage, declares Moscow’s leading newspaper The Gazette, as quoted in London’s Daily Mail. As in many other lands, the increasing ease for young men to have sex without marriage is said to diminish their desire to take on that responsibility. “We may not like The Other Woman solution,” says the government-sponsored Gazette, “but what can we do?” Why the official concern over so delicate a matter? “If thousands of Soviet spinsters already in their 30s do not take lovers they cannot become pregnant, and the country needs these children,” says the paper.

Safe in Her Jaws

Controversy over whether crocodiles cradle their newly hatched babies between their jaws recently was settled. A. C. Pooley of the St. Lucia Estuary Game Reserve in Zululand, South Africa, reports that they do just that. He says that when the cheeping little ones hatch, mother will dig them out of the nest and gently take one in her mouth, shaking it down into a special pouch inside. “From here on its downhill all the way,” says England’s New Scientist magazine. “The sound of the baby already in the mouth encourages the others to enter, and the crocodile merely lowers her jaws to allow the little mites in.” As many as eighteen babies may enjoy safety behind those fearsome teeth as she gently nods her head to keep them peaceful.

“Life on Mars”?

A recent article in Atlantic magazine entitled “Life on Mars” cited one Martian lander experiment as “the strongest and most unambiguous piece of evidence for Martian life.” But the Viking scientist responsible for the experiment writes: “I should like to set the facts straight.” He then shows that, though there were unexpected results from his experiment, “a dispassionate examination of all the evidence (some of it not yet published) leads to the conclusion that the results are compatible with a non-biological [non-life] explanation, but not with any reasonable biological one.” He concludes by saying that “nobody should be misled into thinking that there is substantial evidence for [life] in any of the Viking results.”

Biofeedback Challenged

The idea that one can control certain of his own involuntary body functions merely by seeing their “feedback” signal on an electronic monitoring device has been popular for some time. Experiments seemed to confirm this. However, researchers at the University of Kansas report in the Journal Experimental Psychology that their tests “revealed no value whatsoever in heart rate biofeedback.” Previous experiments that appeared to obtain positive results “lacked the [necessary] control groups,” they say.

The scientists compared biofeedback subjects with groups that were told to (1) simply change their heart rates without seeing any monitoring device, (2) sit quietly, (3) think of exciting or relaxing things, and (4) a group that received random false feedback from the monitoring devices. “When appropriate control groups were considered, all decreases in heart rate could be attributed to a simple adaptation [non-feedback] effect,” stated the researchers.

Iceberg Water to Drink?

Ninety percent of the world’s fresh water is locked in Antarctic ice. A group of thirty experts gathered recently in Paris to consider a proposal by French consultants to use this ice for drinking water in arid lands. Saudi Arabia had commissioned the study to determine whether this might be an economical way to satisfy her growing needs, in place of desalting seawater. The French scientists estimate that towing, slicing and melting icebergs from the Antarctic would be 30 to 50 percent cheaper than desalinization. New Scientist magazine notes that this would make it “economically competitive not merely in arid countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait but also in areas like Australia, Chile and even California where water scarcity is not so acute.”

“Marshmallow” Morals

The recent study of sexuality commissioned by the Catholic Theological Society of America recommends guidelines other than the Bible and Church doctrine for sexual behavior. Matters such as premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality are to be considered in the light of “creative growth toward integration,” according to the theologians. Rather than using Biblical direction, they say one can judge one’s own sexual acts by whether they are ‘self-liberating, other-enriching, honest, faithful, socially responsible, life-serving and joyous.’ Jesuit theologian Richard McCormick observes that the study​—at odds with official Catholic doctrine—​reflects “the marshmallow character of their moral criteria.”

Sumoist’s Fatal Fat

Japan’s famous sumo wrestlers have a fatal occupational hazard​—their giant girths. Winners in sumo matches are determined by whoever forces any part of his opponent’s body to the ground or drives him out of a 15-foot (4.6-meter)-diameter circle. Hence, says Japan’s Daily Yomiuri, “it is often the fat rather than the muscles that determines a champion.” A rich diet of rice, thick meat stew, beer and rice wine fatten the sumoists to as much as 180 kilograms (400 pounds). But this weight takes its toll. Recently it was found that there are five times the normal rate of diabetics among the wrestlers, and they die in their early to mid-fifties, whereas average Japanese males live past seventy.

Greek Falling Out

When a sixty-one-year-old Greek priest fell from his fourth-floor balcony and landed on the roof of his neighbor’s car without suffering a scratch, he attributed his rescue to the “benevolence of the Virgin Mary.” However, says Athens News, “the priest did not . . . seem to be protected from the anger of the parked car’s owner, who asked for an 8,000 drs. [$224] indemnity, claiming that the priest fell purposely on his car because he strongly disliked his daughter.”

“Witching” the Prosecutors

The Navajo Indian tribal prosecutor recently had a hard time filling the job of prosecutor for one of his Arizona districts. Aside from a rather low salary, he says that applicants shy away from the job because they are sometimes “witched” by disgruntled defendants. “You can feel it when someone has witched you,” he claims. For his own peace of mind, the prosecutor “goes to medicine men about six times each year for ceremonial sings that restore him to harmony,” reports the Arizona Republic. He also recommends the procedure to other prosecutors.

Acupuncture Update

After stomach surgery, persistent hiccups are no joke. A doctor at the University Hospital Centre of Lyons, France, reports successful use of acupuncture in treating this problem. After using points in the ear and leg, Dr. Gilbert Benyamine claims that “the hiccup stopped at the moment when the needle was withdrawn.”

“Already surgeons have used acupuncture to carry out more than 500 heart operations in West Germany alone,” reports Belgium’s To the Point International, “and French doctors in Marseilles use the method to perform caesarean births without drugs.”

Total TV

The U.S. House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee recently summarized their findings from hearings on TV violence. One interesting fact was that 97 percent of American homes have at least one television set​—more than have indoor plumbing.

Scottish Milestone

“A sad milestone for Scotland,” bemoans The Sunday Post. Why? “By the end of this year the Kirk’s [Church of Scotland] membership will have fallen below one million for the first time this century.” But “even this figure is an illusion,” says the Post. “Of that million, hundreds of thousands are hardly ever inside a kirk. They fork out as little as possible for the collection. They may join to get married, or to get the bairn [baby] christened​—then lapse again.” More than 1,700 a month have been dropping out, on the average, over the last five years. The church also complains that two thirds of its membership contribute “spasmodically” or not at all.

How Did It All Get Here?

What force was used to create these marvelous star-filled heavens and this beautiful earth? Can that force be used to create on earth a new order of lasting peace?

Read the answers to such questions in the book Holy Spirit​—The Force Behind the Coming New Order! A copy of it, along with the companion book Good News​—to Make You Happy, will be sent, postpaid, for just 50 cents (U.S.).

Please send the 192-page, hardbound books Holy Spirit​—The Force Behind the Coming New Order! and Good News​—to Make You Happy, as well as the gift booklet There Is Much More to Life! I enclose 50c (U.S.).

[Picture on page 31]

Did the starry heavens come about by accident?

How to Keep Delinquency Out of Your Home

Family troubles, are a major reason why children turn to drugs and sex. But you can protect your family. How?

The books Your Youth Getting the Best out of It and Listening to the Great Teacher can help. They can assist parents to deal with the problems of today’s youths. Send only 50 cents (U.S.), and receive both books, postpaid.

Please send the 192-page, hardbound books Your Youth​—Getting the Best out of It and Listening to the Great Teacher, as well as the gift booklet Is There a God Who Cares? I enclose 50c (U.S.).