Letters

Dying on Our Own Terms

"In our society a murderer gets more compassion than a person who has led an exemplary life and becomes terminally ill." MARVIN C. ARTHUR Las Vegas

Thank you for your article "A Kinder, Gentler Death" [SOCIETY, Sept. 18]. I watched my father die of colon cancer while under hospice care. I asked the people on the hospice staff how they could work in such a depressing environment. The answer stunned me. They didn't focus on the sadness; they focused on the care they provided to the patient and the family, making sure it was a "good death." They felt they had done their job if the patient was able to pass away comfortably, surrounded by family members. I think I will count the end of my life a success if that's the way I am allowed to leave this earth: surrounded by my loved ones instead of machines. DIANA PIERCE Leander, Texas

Just because the medical profession has made advances that save lives does not mean doctors have to play God. They should quit worrying about lawsuits, stop providing unnecessary treatment and respect the wishes of the patient who wants to die with dignity. Compassion and common sense should prevail. BESS ARNOLD Cheyenne, Wyo.

Whenever I talk about death with my family and friends, they think I am being morbid. As you so rightly said, death is the only certainty in life, and yet we refuse to talk about it. We plan for the smallest journeys to known places but are not willing to prepare for the journey in death to an unknown destination. JAGS NARWANI Lawrenceville, Ga.

We celebrate when a baby enters the world, but at the end of life's long and strange journey, the terminally ill are sent to a nursing home or hospital to die, often alone. That is shameful. The end of life, like the beginning, should be spent in the company of loved ones, in a home rather than an institution. JOSH KIENITZ Lima, Ohio

TIME's treatment of dying in America was enormously welcome and resonated with some of the experiences I have had caring for members of Jimmy's and my families. The message on your cover, "Too many Americans spend their final days in a hospital or nursing home, alone and in pain," was first reported almost five years ago by medical researchers. Five years is certainly more than enough time to translate facts into action and study results, and it is sad that progress in this critical area is so slow. I am proud that Last Acts, a coalition of more than 500 very diverse organizations, offers a place where hospital administrators, insurance executives, doctors, nurses, clergy, Medicare regulators--and every family--can share ideas and strategies for helping Americans face their final days on their own terms. ROSALYNN CARTER Honorary Chairperson, Last Acts Plains, Ga.

The Real Land Down Under

In "The Real Australia," Robert Hughes wrote an erudite and insightful essay about his homeland [THE SUMMER OLYMPICS, Sept. 11]. We visited Sydney last year and came away feeling that Australians, besides being the most friendly and open folks you'll ever meet, share a special affinity with Americans. We want to dispel any notion floated by Hughes that Australians may not be the greatest people on earth, because our experience tells us that they very well may be. NACZ AND CATHE URBANSKI Pennington, N.J.

Hughes' report did a disservice to Australia that was surely unintended. The article was largely defensive, confusing, contradictory and deliberately played up Australian virtues against American blemishes. Australia's strengths and deficiencies need not be compared with those of the U.S., Britain or any other country. But why on earth has Hughes chosen to live in the U.S., the obviously inferior country, for 30 years? BUFF HIRKO Gig Harbor, Wash.

The article by Hughes reinforced my impression of a society so superficial and banal as to engender not the slightest desire to get to know it better. In a country whose people seem to be largely devoid of vision or values and where "sports are our religion," my concern is not that Australia increasingly takes after America but that America increasingly resembles Australia. DAVID A. COYLE Kirkland, Wash.

Let's propose a deal to the Australians: Don't believe Robert Hughes' description of Americans, and we won't believe his of Australians. DONNADAE GILCHRIST Watervliet, N.Y.

I spent six months in Australia in the early '90s, saw most of the country and fell in love with it and its people. I have been trying to find a way to go back and live there permanently. I would not say, however, that Australia is entirely corruption-free. While I was there, a former government official was jailed for taking payoffs that, in the wonderful, direct Australian way, were bundles of cash in brown paper bags. The word subtle does not seem relevant to Australian behavior, but there is the lovely word ratbag, which is a term of endearment reserved primarily for politicians. ROBIN A. COX Scarborough, Ont.

Byzantine Practices?

I was flying over Bolivia's Chiquitano Forest as I read your article on the "old-time gas company" Enron [BUSINESS, Aug. 28]. Over the past year, this forest, the largest remnant of intact primary dry tropical forest in the world, has been bisected by a 30-ft.-wide gash for construction of a gas pipeline by Enron and Shell. Enron in its quest for profit has ignored the scientific advice of conservation organizations to maintain the ecological integrity of this endangered forest ecosystem. Enron and Shell decided to open the 10 million-acre forest to fragmentation and deforestation by their pipeline. Enron may be keeping pace with advancing technologies to plow ahead in global markets, but its environmental practices are Byzantine and pose a global threat to biodiversity. PATRICIA CAFFREY World Wildlife Fund-Bolivia Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Diplomacy Rules

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a paradoxical statement in your article about him [WORLD, Sept. 4]. He thinks technology will rewrite many of the globe's oldest rules, but Annan is forgetting that technology is just a set of tools. Tools don't make rules, nor do they make decisions. JEAN-PAUL DEBATTICE Brussels

A View from Afar

As a 24-year-old Chilean who is a news freak, I have my own opinion about what the U.S. presidential campaign looks like [NATION, Sept. 18]. It seems as if it is something postapocalyptic. The devils are burning down the house, and anything can happen. George W. Bush doesn't know the names of some world leaders and wanted to have one of the debates with Al Gore under the auspices of TV talk-show host Larry King.

And what's with the Democrats' attacking the entertainment industry [for violent content]? At the heart of it, Democrats and Republicans are both doing whatever it takes to grab votes so they can run the country. JOSE MIGUEL VILLOUTA Santiago

There Oughta Be a Law

Isn't it ironic that the people who abhor Big Government want to pillory Susan Bailey, the new head of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration [BUSINESS, Sept. 18], for not protecting them from the Firestone-Ford fiasco? Everyone wants to be independent--until the crud hits the fan. Then they want to know why the government didn't act to protect them. PASQUALE JOHN PIACENTE Newington, Conn.

The Firestone and Ford revelations remind us once more that corporate greed, short-term profits and shareholder return take precedence over the possibility of death, injury and disability. It's not hard to understand the corporate values and principles of these companies. I wonder what their decision makers take to sleep at night? I would sure like to have some. WALLY PALFREY Westbank, B.C.

Prayerful Free Expression

As a proud member of the American Civil Liberties Union [RELIGION, Sept. 18], I am frequently irritated by the lambasting the organization takes for its relentless defense of the First Amendment clause that prohibits the government from establishing a religion or preventing the free exercise of religious beliefs. One of the requisites for religious liberty is the unbending separation of church and state. Your article about organized prayer at football games suggested that the students in North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas believe they are being defiant when they pray on game night. There is nothing defiant about their behavior. I strongly support the right of all people to express their religious faith. As soon as a school begins to aid in their efforts, however, the school officially endorses the underlying message, and the constitutional separation of church and state is breached. JOE HAVERMANN Wildwood, Mo.

SATs Still Make the Grade

Contrary to the impression given by your story "Rethinking the Big Test: No SAT Scores Required" [EDUCATION, Sept. 11], the nation's four-year colleges and universities are neither eliminating nor reducing SAT requirements as an element in their admissions process. The College Board's annual Survey of Colleges shows that in 1999, 83% of the U.S.'s 1,800 four-year colleges considered test scores in admissions, a percentage that has remained relatively constant for 10 years. The stable use of test scores by four-year institutions remains unaffected by the decision over the past three decades by a handful of small, private institutions to made scores optional. GASTON CAPERTON, PRESIDENT The College Board New York City

Burned Up and Bewitched

One phrase in your article on Larry Harvey's Burning Man festival [LIVING, Sept. 18] hit a nerve: the comment that he moved the "punk-pagan celebration" from San Francisco to a "lifeless" desert northeast of Reno. I just spent four months working with people of the Paiute, Shoshone and Washoe tribes, who are indigenous to the Reno area. For them, the desert brims with life--animal, vegetable and human. How self-centered and arrogant it is for whites to think that a landscape without their culture and accumulated junk in it is lifeless. The puerile horde that invades the desert on Labor Day has no clue about the earth or true spirituality. Too bad Harvey can't use his talent and money for something that benefits the planet. JANE VAN CAMP Placerville, Calif.

I attended Burning Man for the first time this year. Forget the naked people and the parties. For one week, people of every kind gathered under extreme conditions and lived as a true family. I did not hear one negative word. There was food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, shelter during storms and--best of all--never-ending smiles! Burning Man is an example of how everyone should live. See you all next year. HEIDI KARL Philadelphia

A Woman's Blessing

I was deeply saddened by the article "Who Needs a Period?" about women's manipulating the timing of their monthly period, sometimes reducing it to just a few times a year [MEDICINE, Sept. 11]. The menstrual cycle is not a curse, as many women refer to it in jest, but a blessing that enables us, if we choose, to create life. What does it say about us if we wish to avoid one of the defining characteristics of our sex? How out of touch we have become if we begin to think of this natural experience as a burden. KAILIN M. FENN Millis, Mass.

Can't Bear It

It always amazes me how the animal-rights types think. In your article about the population explosion of black bears in New Jersey, "When Bears Get the Munchies" [AMERICAN SCENE, Sept. 18], some people suggested letting the bears deplete their natural food supply, which would cause their numbers to drop owing to starvation. In the end, the entire bear population would stand the chance of being malnourished and less able to endure a hard winter. In their hatred of hunting, the animal rightists are endorsing a practice that would cause much more suffering and a lingering death for the animals they profess to care about. DUANE PORTERFIELD Bullhead City, Ariz.

So the bears are a risk because they've been "frightening Boy Scouts on camping trips"? I thought the Scouts went camping to learn about nature. STEVE SCHAEFFER New York City