1974
Feedback
July 1974


“Feedback,” New Era, July 1974, 2

Feedback

Warm feeling

I felt that I should let you know how great the May issue was. I especially liked the article “Yes, You Are Old Enough, Girls.” It gave me such a warm feeling inside when I read it. (And it wasn’t heartburn!)

I really love the new Aaronic Priesthood MIA program. I’ve been helped so much by being Mia Maid class president this year. I know that if we all work together and really want to accomplish something, we can. Thanks for re-inspiring me.

Nancy Clays
Denver, Colorado

A strong guiding arm

I just received the April New Era here on the “rock” (Okinawa). I feel as if I’m at home when I read the stories. I’ve been in the Church now for 355 days, having been introduced to its teachings by a fellow Marine. I hope we can all be good examples so that we can bring many to the baptismal waters. Many changes have come into my life through the gospel. It is like a strong guiding arm from heaven. I’ll be leaving Okinawa soon, but I’ll always be so very thankful for the Church. May we all show our love for the Church by our good works.

Cecil T. Champenois, Jr.
Okinawa, Japan

Matter of free agency

I feel there are some additional comments that should be made to the Q and A response (April 1974) of Dr. Homer Ellsworth regarding hypnosis.

Dr. Ellsworth failed to point out the difference between stage and medical hypnosis. Although the methods of obtaining hypnosis may be very similar, the end results and the purpose of the results are quite different. As an anesthesiologist I have used these hypnotic techniques on many occasions. A child who must have a shot prior to being anesthetized, and who is extremely frightened, can be easily quieted and have a pleasant experience by using hypnotic techniques. I have used this on many patients prior to surgery. Frequently, a very apprehensive patient relaxes.

One has the free agency to decide whether he would like to be hypnotized or not. To use some examples: When one purchases a ticket and boards an airliner, one has used his free agency in that purchase and the entering of the aircraft. Thereafter he is subject to the crew who handle the airplane. Another example: In using the common medicine aspirin one has the free agency to take the aspirin or not to take it. But after it has been taken, one is subject to the effects of that medicine. Now to come to my field of anesthesia. The patient has the right (free agency) to accept anesthesia or not to accept it. Once the acceptance of anesthesia has been made, the patient then becomes subjected to that person who is administering the anesthetic.

Until one sees a frightened, crying child (or adult) easily quieted by hypnotic techniques, I think it is not right to condemn the use of hypnosis for making one’s life more comfortable.

Lawrence E. Reichmann, M.D.
Salt Lake City, Utah

Get it?

Come, come now. Don’t you really get the March Mormonism?

Ever been in a meeting where the speaker was a good speaker but was still talking and the meeting was supposed to be over ten minutes ago? Microphones must get tired too. This one did anyway, but it took a couple of strong hints to get its point across. So after making funny noises, biting the speaker on the nose, and thumping him on the head, it reached down and pulled out the plug so the guy would stop talking.

Get it?

Bev Becker
Bloomington, Montana

Upsetting issues

Your Christmas and Easter issues were upsetting to me. Christ was only mentioned in passing. Certainly you could have devoted those two issues entirely to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord.

Jerry Anderson
Chico, California

Apples and oranges

Jonathan Livingston Seagull said that there was a price to being misunderstood. Valerie Pawson shows by her letter to the editor in the January issue that she misunderstood Mr. Blackwell’s article in last July’s New Era. He said that women’s lib has women thinking that they want to compete with men. Why should they want to? The fact is, women cannot compete with men, and lest I be misunderstood, men cannot compete against women either. You can judge between apples and find the best apple, and the same among oranges, but which is best between the apple and the orange? There can be no comparison, and wanting to compete shows only a lack of understanding on the part of the would-be competitor, apple or orange.

And what is more important is that men and women are complements. One is not complete without the other. They are partners. And what happens when business fails? As Mr. Blackwell said, it is a disaster.

Elder Michael L. Clark
Germany Central Mission

Can’t swallow “Home Cooking”

I was very disappointed in Jack Weyland’s story “Home Cooking” published in the January New Era. I agree with the stated moral of the story, which is that one doesn’t have to fit the “Utah Mormon” mold to be a good Latter-day Saint. But another moral (one with which I firmly disagree) was implicit; that a woman must be carefully subordinate to a man if she wishes him to love her. For example, Cher’s being B.J.’s personal servant, carefully changing her major in order to remain behind him in school, and doing everything she could possibly think of to serve and please him seem to be the very factors that made Tony fall in love with her. We see little of Cher’s personality and character aside from her desperation to please B.J.

I feel that nothing my husband and I ever do will match the importance of building a celestial family. In order to fulfill this calling and to return our three small children to their Father in heaven, we find it necessary to work together as equals, each contributing all the skills, talents, and abilities he possesses to the effort. If I were to hold myself back and deny my own human potential to build up my husband’s ego, I would be cheating not only myself but our celestial family unit and my Heavenly Father as well.

Heather Sather
Pocatello, Idaho

A sweet work

Every time I receive my New Era I begin a pleasant and sweet work, for the guys and girls from my ward are always asking me to translate for them the articles in it. We love every page of each issue, and it is great to help my friends in such a way thanks to your magazine, not to mention the great help it gives in our stake mission work.

The New Era has helped me a lot in my search for a “well-built testimony.” It makes me feel that I am part of the youth of the Lord—young people who create beautiful things for each other, just as the New Era does for us.

Bianka Lopez
Guatemala

It gets lonesome

I’m the only Latter-day Saint in the family, so it gets kind of lonesome sometimes. I never believed there was a God. I wouldn’t go to church or read the Bible, but when I met two missionaries through a friend of mine, I wanted to hear and learn more and become a part of this wonderful church. The greatest day of my life was the day of my baptism. It was so beautiful that I couldn’t understand why I had ever been scared about being baptized. It was so fantastic that I cried. I am sure that I have taken a step that I will never regret. I really do enjoy receiving the New Era. It’s a fantastic book. Every time it arrives, my mother says that it really makes her day.

Sue E. Hayden
London, England

Questions and answers

The New Era is a great influence in my life. Each month I am excited to receive a new issue. I especially like the Q and A section. It includes many thought-provoking questions that many of us wonder about but have hesitated to ask. Thank you for serving the youth of the Church so well.

Becky Bryan
West Lafayette, Indiana