Letters December 21, 1998 Issue

YOUR LETTERS

"Thank you for alerting me and others to this truth."

with contributions from Manfred Söllinger, Sandra Scott

At first I was shocked to read in Mr. Bergenheim's article (October 26) that people bet on the death of public figures on the Internet. But as we understand the wrongness of this mental action, other more subtle cases stand out.

The article "Cuba After Castro" in The Christian Science Monitor (International edition, 16 to 22 October, p. 6), quotes Adolfo Salguerio stating that changes initiated by Castro are the least probable, given his stubbornness. He further speculates that Castro will pass on, leaving power in the hands of his brother Raul. Wayne Smith concurs: "If [Fidel] Castro went down in a helicopter next year, Raul would be the initial leader." Here you can feel the hidden hope that we may benefit by the death of a person.

But Mrs. Eddy writes, "God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience" (Science and Health, p. 106). She doesn't mention stubbornness! During recent international crises, I have also prayed with this thought from the same book: "A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive" (p. 463). Then we don't need to speculate on Castro's passing.

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