items of interest

with contributions from Tad Szulc, Lisa Holton, M. P. K. Kutty, Rebecca Gardyn, Heather Menzies, David Blankenhorn

Touched by the Holy Land

FOLLOWING OPERATION Desert Storm in 1982, the United States and other nations left a contingent of soldiers in the Sinai desert. Many of the men and women of the American units are deeply moved by the knowledge that they are serving in places where Moses lived. Says Capt. Eric W. Olsen, a Lutheran pastor and an Army chaplain, "I've seen some dramatic changes .... The soldiers show less cynicism, less sarcasm and more determination to stand for something greater.... They announce, 'When I go home, I'll be a better husband. I won't take my family for granted like I used to.' "

Tad Szulc
"How Many Can Say, 'I Walked Where Moses Walked'?"
Parade Magazine
December 19, 1999

WHO'S ON THE INTERNET?

"ACCORDING TO New York-based Jupiter Communications, an Internet research firm, kids aged 8 to 12 and teens aged 13 to 22 are the largest growth sectors of the Internet population. In 1998, approximately 8.6 million kids and 8.4 million teens were online. By 2002, the research firm predicts 21.9 million kids and 16.6 million teens will be online."

Lisa Holton
"The Surfer in the Family"
American Demographics
April 2000

The power of forgiveness

"AS HUMAN BEINGS we are all in need of God's forgiveness.... Forgiveness sets people free and brings healing," replied Gladys Staines, a Indian missionary whose husband and two children were murdered, when she was asked if it was easy to forgive the assailants. She went on, "Forgiveness is an expression of

love and it has the power to heal hatred. [For me, in my situation, forgiveness] was a spontaneous expression of my faithfulness to Jesus Christ."

Quoted by M. P. K. Kutty in "The Power To Heal Hatred"
The Times of India (Bombay)
December 9, 1999

Consumer mind reading

ADVERTISERS WHO USE focus groups, surveys, and other traditional methods for finding out what consumers want now have a new tool: a high-tech headset that reads consumers' brain-wave activity and thus will show advertisers and others which approaches work and which ones don't.

Developed by the Capita Research Group, the device has been received with both interest and skepticism. Some advertising executives point out that consumers may feel the machine is just a little too close to "Big Brother" to be appealing.

Others welcome the new angle on marketing research and feel that it can be integrated successfully with other methods.

Reported by Rebecca Gardyn
"What's on Your Mind?"
American Demographics, April 2000

BREAK THE GRIP OF TIME

"...WE NEED TO go beyond the psychological and start considering stress as an environmental problem. We need to consider how time, as tempo, is embedded in the different media through which we articulate our lives. Equally, we need to recognize how this time embeds itself in us...."

Heather Menzies, Canadian author
"Time to chill out, Canada"
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
February 29, 2000

Basis for fatherhood

"...WITH FATHERHOOD, JUST as with character education, the faith factor ...is not primarily a matter of convenience, logistics, or available leaders. It's also and most importantly a matter of first principles. For ...hands-on human fatherhood is a spiritual calling, intimately linked to the search for transcendence.... [It] is a metaphysical idea, decisively dependent on things unseen."

David Blankenhorn, president
Institute for American Values
"Fatherhood on the Rebound"
Christianity Today
December 6, 1999

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