Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 30, 1993 TAG: 9311300353
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Universal health care is a desirable objective, but we should act responsibly and put our house in order before embarking on the granddaddy of all entitlement programs. We also need to become a more responsible society. Under the president's plan, the healthy, working, responsible members of society will pay not only for their own care but for the millions of unwed mothers and their children, for drug abusers, those who contract AIDS, those who turn to violence to solve problems, etc.
The president and Congress should be leading the way to responsible behavior, not bringing up the rear!
FREDERICK L. BECKER
UNION HALL
Santa Claus has pagan background
THE BACK PEW column on Oct. 31 by Cody Lowe entitled ``There's nothing wrong with a little fun on Halloween'' on the origins of Halloween was right, sort of.
Many Christian holiday customs have origin in pagan customs that, depending on the viewpoint, were either half-forgotten by the time of Christ or were encountered among the slaves and lower classes in the early Christian centuries.
Halloween is the old Celtic festival of Beltane. The Celts, like many other ancient people, believed in a complex universe with several alternate realities occupying the same geography. On Beltane, the supernatural boundaries among the realities broke down and the inhabitants were free to visit our world. These visitors included, of course, the dead. They also included elves, fairies, monsters such as human-shaped animals, fallen pieties and various little people. Unlike in most fairy tales, these beings were regarded as occupying a separate existence rather than living either far away or as disembodied spirits in our reality.
Christians of the early Middle Ages had few problems with this. While saints were in heaven and the greater sinners were in hell, the question of where everyone else was until judgment day was often left moot. The doctrine that every supernatural being that was not an angel had a demonic nature didn't originate until the 12th century.
Other holiday customs going back to early pagan types? Santa Claus is an elf, and what is the practice of leaving a snack for him but a survival of the practice of leaving a saucer of milk for the little people? And the carnival celebration is heavily derived from the old festival of the first fruits, whose purpose everyone had forgotten by the time of imperial Rome.
JACK R. PATTERSON
ROANOKE
Safety advocates are 'humored'
AS A RESIDENT of Guilford Avenue Southwest, I empathize with the Stanley Avenue residents who've requested four-way stop signs. Good luck! Drive along Guilford Avenue, and you'll experience the rush of being on Whitey Taylor's speedway.
After a child was hit on our street last year, concerned parents requested more stop signs and/or police enforcement of a 25-mph speed limit. We had to persist just to be heard. A ``study'' was conducted to humor us. The result: a costly packet of gibberish that read likeorm letter and passed the buck, as most over-generalized documents do.
City councilpersons, I deeply regret that you feel caught in the middle of this issue. Road-safety issues, especially where children are involved, should not even be subject to debate. Why don't you all become traffic counters, police officers or highway workers so you won't have to face this dilemma?
You're sending out yet another clear message:
Move to the Star City - the place to raise kids. Buy old homes on busy streets. Fix them up. Increased property value equals increased taxes. We might apply your taxes to safer streets, but most likely they'll go to Frank Tota and the like.
REBECCA R. MORRISON
ROANOKE
A 'bliss' that's best to miss
I READ Beth Macy's Nov. 18 article on the joys and benefits of being a teen- age mother (``Pregnant and proud''). Being a male who is past his teen-age years, I'm frustrated that I cannot partake in what sounds like a euphoric experience. My frustration is appeased by the unselfish happiness I find in knowing that this article, complete with a front-page pitch, will convince many girls to experience the bliss of teen-age pregnancy and the carefree life of motherhood.
To further aid these girls in making the best choice possible, would you please clarify whether it's more prestigious to have a child sired by someone who is ``outa school, real cute and dresses fine,'' or one who later gets ``killed in a drug-related shootout''?
WILLIAM J. BROGAN
BLACKSBURG
\ They're there when needed
I'M TIRED of hearing ``what's wrong'' with the Bedford County Sheriff's Department. We live in a society that thrives on the negative side of these types of situations. These people are human and they experience the ups and downs of life just as others do. If we're honest, we'd admit that we couldn't operate day to day under the stress that these officers face with each situation they encounter.
I don't agree with drinking on the job, and we may not agree with the way some things are handled, but we all make mistakes, even those we don't admit to. We need to help others when they fall and learn with them, instead of knocking them back down. If we do wrong and know it's wrong to start with, we have to be responsible for our actions and accept the cost, or pay the cost if there's one. It's when we keep making the same mistakes that we have no excuses. We might try to hide things from each other, but there's one who sees and knows all.
We may not agree with the laws of our land, but if they're broken, and your rights or life are being threatened, who can you call, knowing that someone is coming to help and protect you when there's no one else around? It's our law-enforcement officers. They risk their own safety at times for ours. Yet, when we do wrong, they're considered an enemy who might catch us and we believe we're always right.
My children have nothing but respect and admiration for the sheriff's department and are eager to see the officers in their school for special programs. I live in peace knowing I have a higher power looking out for me and my family. I also have the utmost respect for them, knowing they're there if and when I need them.
REGINA M. WILSON
MONETA
Warm-up time at 'shooting gallery'
I HAVE a suggestion for the owners of the Boar-Walla Wild Game Preserve/ Shooting Gallery in Alleghany County. So that your customers can get in a few practice rounds (or just to warm up the blood lust), why not install a couple of big wooden barrels flanking the entrance and stock them with fish?
JANICE ZENNER
BLACKSBURG
Thanks for adopted land's blessings
ON THANKSGIVING Day, I was wondering what Thanksgiving meant to me in particular. Up to recently, it's been a holiday celebrated by the people of my adopted country. Sure, like most people, I enjoy having a couple of days away from work to eat turkey, visit with friends and relatives and, weather permitting, do some much-needed late fall yardwork. This Thanksgiving was different. The true meaning of this holiday struck me in a more personal way.
I left the country of my birth, Iraq, when I was 16 years old, to find freedom from oppression and dictatorships and to seek liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Though I lived in Europe for 15 years, I didn't feel it to be home. I was a stranger in strange lands.
In the United States, I feel that I'm at home.
The good people of Botetourt County, where I have my home, have welcomed me into their midst and their homes. The good people of Alleghany County gave me a job, and not just any job. They entrusted me with the education of their children - a duty that I don't take lightly. Last but not least, my American wife gave me our first baby, a beautiful girl we named Dakota. I'm thankful to have the fortune to come to this great country, to be so welcomed by its people, to make my home here and to be able to realize my dream of freedom and the pursuit of happiness.
I certainly had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
SAM NAUMAN
FINCASTLE
by CNB