Boeing's Birds

To the Editors:

In this jet age, it is comforting to know that somebody like the Boeing Co. [April 7], which really cares, is making those big birds for the world's airlines. American professionalism and engineering perfection have not completely gone down the drain after all.

George Kurien Teaneck, N.J.

Boeing surely deserves credit for excellence in aircraft design, but don't forget the contribution made by the jet-engine companies, including Pratt & Whitney, General Electric and Rolls-Royce. The plane is designed around the engine. Recent advances in technology far surpass those of the airframe makers. The principal reason that Boeing and the other companies are venturing into new models is that these advances cut fuel costs while improving thrust and reliability.

Roily Curtis Ross, Calif.

The eruptions of Washington's Mount St. Helens are just a way of celebrating the awarding of $4 billion to Boeing to build the cruise missile.

Gene Wildman New York City

Glorious Boeing conjures up questions of why General Motors, Ford or Chrysler cannot strive to master the roads of the world.

Richard E. Bicknell Wayland, Mass.

All About God

Now that philosophers are acknowledging the existence of a Supreme Being (God) [April 7], we can once again appreciate the fact that civilizations from pre-Hittite to the present have believed in gods and worshiped them.

This inborn need to have a Supreme Being comes closest to the hitherto indefinable soul. Here is a simple idea any man can believe.

Albert E. Freeman Mount Holly, N.J.

So religion is making a comeback. Can witches, goblins and devils be far behind? When will mankind outgrow this foolish superstition?

Clarence Gregory Philadelphia

Scripture clearly says the wisest of men are fools, indicating that the best intellectual minds we have in our world are not able to cope with what God is really like. The experts are trying too hard. You don't reveal God, he reveals himself to you. Tell them all to relax, forget their intellectual reasoning and open themselves to him. He'll come; we have his promise.

Ormond W. Bray Plainville, Conn.

Where did God stay before he created the heavens and earth? What did he do all day? Where did he come from? Was he created by a superior being?

Steve Handman New York City

Judging from the rest of the news, I'd say you found God just in time.

Robert D. Geller Freeport, Ill.

A Bankrupt Philosophy

With a $140 monthly tithe to the Mormon Church, I'm not surprised the Hobsons [April 7] went into debt--and they hardly qualify as a typical bankrupt family. What happened to the concept of separation of church and state when a court can allow them to continue this tithe while owing legitimate businesses $18,000?

Michael Aidan San Francisco

What a fool I've been! All these years spent living in houses I could afford, paying my bills each month, using my credit cards with care and doing without in order to eat, keep warm and meet medical expenses. How much easier it would have been just to say "charge it" and wind up paying only 16-c- on the dollar.

Emelie J. Wisenbaker Sapulpa, Okla.

An American Image

I agree with Lance Morrow's observation in "On Reimagining America" [March 31] that the U.S. honeymoon with images of its past (Manifest Destiny and "unlimited growth") is over. However, I disagree with his conclusion that we should turn right around and "start inventing and imagining" a new "myth" to entrance us anew. Instead, we desperately need insight into what it would really mean to inhabit North America, or Turtle Island, as the Indians called it, rather than to continue occupying and pillaging it like invaders. What is required is a renewal of the old "communionism" with the land and ancient spirit of Turtle Island.

Randall C. Furlong Cambridge, England

Only our nation's minorities--the blacks, the Hispanics, even the Indians rescued from their reservations--have the soul and the drive to "start inventing and imagining again."

The Wasp work ethic, John Dewey's philosophy of materialism and an educational system based on pragmatism have created the mess we face today: the environment polluted and our natural resources despoiled and depleted; rampant inflation; our Government emasculated by third-rate powers like Iran; television used to spread violence or utter boredom and mediocrity. Our minorities are the last hope to avoid sliding into that ultimate black hole described in your Essay.

Luis Zalamea Miami

Since other foreigners have interpreted and commented on America and Americans, may I also comment that every time the Americans feel like complaining, let them remember that their garbage disposals probably eat better than a great many people in this world.

Rusi N. Motiwalla Santa Barbara, Calif.

Those Low-Blood-Sugar Blues

Thanks, but no thanks, for adding fuel to the American Medical Association's fire concerning hypoglycemia [April 7]. The A.M.A. needs to do less talking about how many people think they have low blood sugar and more research that will enable doctors to help those who do have the condition. It's easier to make a patient feel it's all in his head than to admit that the "great doctor" doesn't know enough about the treatment of a debilitating condition. If people are going to have blood-sugar problems, they would be better off to get diabetes--the A.M.A. believes in that.

Elizabeth A. Havey Homewood, Ill.

Americans in Captivity

In your report on Natalie Crouter's book, Forbidden Diary [March 24], I found, for the first time in my life, a person who had something good to say about a Japanese concentration camp and about Japanese guards. I spent three years in a concentration camp on Java. The living conditions were abominable, we were kept on a starvation diet, and the death toll was great. There was no doubt in our minds on how to regard our Japanese captors. They were the enemy, pure and simple--evil incarnate. If this view is somewhat simplistic, it did give us a feeling of solidarity.

Henriette Rayburn Yosu, South Korea

I was a prisoner of the Japanese in the Philippines, as was Mrs. Crouter, but after reading the article about her I wonder if we were in different wars, held by different captors. As a three-year-old, I suffered from kwashiorkor, a severe protein deficiency; this was not helped by eating the weevils in the rice, which we left in for their protein value. I remember three young men who were shot for trying to escape. We were forced to watch them dig their own graves, and then watch the execution itself.

The nightmare years are over, but oh, my God, in the name of honesty and reality, don't call the treatment decent!

John D. Byde Danville, Calif.

Who Was the Rector?

You have run articles on the rebel movement in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, you said that Ahmed Gailani [Jan. 28] was a rector of the Islamic Center in Copenhagen. This is false. My father Sibghatullah Mojadidi was the rector of the Islamic Center. He is a well-known Islamic scholar, with a specialization in Islamic law. Mojadidi is very much in favor of the unity of Afghan rebel groups. The group of which he is a member is open to everyone and is working for the liberation of Afghanistan and its people.

Najib Mojadidi Jacksonville

Peace, Soviet Style

I was puzzled by the letter from Vladimir Alexeev of the Novosti Press in Moscow, which touted the "peace program" of the Soviet Union [April 7]. Alexeev urged our Government to join the U.S.S.R. in making the world a safer place. I have one question. Are the invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan examples of implementing the Soviet peace program?

Stephen E. Bozzo Scranton, Pa.

Ageism and Usefulness

The first half of your Essay on ageism [March 24] represented an open mind, but you slipped into the closed mind of "vital use." The trap of our culture is believing that people can live if they are useful. What is important is not "being useful" but "being." We do not sell grandmothers' smiles in the local supermarket.

James O. Banks Willoughby, Ohio

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