Article September 17, 1979 Issue

Through Spirit's lens

JOHN EDWARD YEMMA

One of an occasional series of articles by young people who have in recent years become Christian Scientists. They explain how they became interested in Christian Science, what convinced them of its utility and truth, and how its teachings have changed their lives.

Several years ago when I was just out of college, I worked in the regional communication center of an international news service. Like many young newsmen, I was aggressive and materially oriented. With cool cynicism I believed that the bigger the drama, the larger the catastrophe, the weirder the event (and the more thunderously I reported it), the more successful I would be. If an oil well exploded in the area while I was working, so much the better, for I saw such an event as an opportunity for my byline to receive national exposure. I was relatively successful, rising quickly from trainee to de facto news editor for nine states.

My experience, however, was the product of a mentality that valued the fleeting and mortal rather than the stable and eternal. The more attention I paid to chaotic news, the more chaotic was the news that came my way. Once, on what would normally have been a quiet Sunday morning at work, I found myself scrambling madly to cover a hostage drama downstate, a political controversy at the capital, a family tragedy in another region—as well as routine news. Daylong I bent to the task, dispatching words of turmoil, sending bulletins and updated leads to newspapers and radio stations across the nation.

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