Insight on the News

Finance Their “Fun”?

● The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that states do not have to finance free abortions for the poor. President Carter, in the face of many cries of “unfair,” backed the court’s ruling, saying that “there are many things in life that are not fair . . . But I don’t believe that the Federal Government should take action to try to make these opportunities exactly equal, particularly when there is a moral factor involved.”

This “moral factor” is one that many people forget in their rush to be what they call “fair.” Putting the matter in perspective: Do you think governments, just to be “fair,” should finance medical bills for blinded eyes and blown-off fingers of poor people who play recklessly with fireworks? Or would it be wiser to discourage playing with fireworks?

Yet how much greater is the moral wrong and danger when people “play” at fornication, the major cause of abortions. For governments to pay for the consequences of such “play” in the name of “fairness” is to say that, because the rich can afford to play the game of wrongdoing, governments should help the poor to do it too! How much wiser for unmarried people, rich or poor, to refrain from such “play,” and for married people to face the responsibility for their own actions.

New Way to Discipline?

● Frustrated parents who have tried every modern method to make their children obey usually fail to do something that works virtually every time. It is “so simple,” says “Psychology Today” magazine, “as to be often overlooked.” Is it some keen new insight into child psychology? No, it is merely ancient wisdom.

The article points out that instead of demanding obedience, parents often “say things like ‘Don’t let me catch you doing that again.’ This is a clear directive to the child to keep doing what he is doing, but to be careful about getting caught.” Parents also will say, “I want you to do your homework,” or similar, but this only expresses parental desire, which the “child may weigh against what HE would like to do.”

To gain obedience, “it is crucial,” declares the article, “that parents begin by stating the demand in unambiguous terms, and it is also necessary that the child know that you really mean what you are saying. You are not ASKING him to do something, you are not WISHING he would do it, but rather you are TELLING him to do it. . . .

“Once a child learns that his parents mean what they say,” it notes, “he will no longer try to con them into letting him have his way.” Parents with the backbone to follow through even in the face of entrenched disobedience will find that their extra efforts now pay future dividends. Actually less effort will be required, as the child learns to respond quickly to reasonable demands, just as the wise Biblical proverb says: “Correct your son and he will give you rest, yes, he will give joy to your soul.”​—Prov. 29:17, “Berkeley” Version.

Forcing Patriotism

● Are the interests of democracy and patriotism best served by mandatory ceremonies? Apparently the Massachusetts legislature thinks so, because it recently overrode the governor’s veto of a law that requires schoolteachers to lead a daily flag-salute ceremony, or be subject to a fine.

One senator had urged his colleagues to vote for the law “in the name of all that is holy and good, apple pie and motherhood.” Another senator agreed, noting that the “first thing we learned after the prayer on our mother’s knees was the pledge of allegiance to the flag.”

The senators arrayed this kind of “logic” against their own State Supreme Court’s ruling that cited a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring such laws unconstitutional. “To sustain the compulsory flag salute,” ruled the nation’s highest court, “we are required to say that a Bill of Rights which guards the individual’s right to speak his own mind, left it open to public authorities to compel him to utter what is not in his mind.” In their concurring opinion, Justices Murphy and Black wrote: “Words uttered under coercion are proof of loyalty to nothing but self-interest. Love of country must spring from willing hearts and free minds, inspired by a fair administration of wise laws.”