Stress!

To the Editors:

Your cover story [June 6] is excellent but hard for me to relate to. I am an unemployed college teacher and have been such for the past eight months. The first example in your article is that of a managerial-class businessman who is working and has job-related difficulties. That man doesn't know how lucky he is. You seem to concentrate on those who are able to afford anxiety. What about the rest of us? For those of us who are poor and out of work, corporate stress is a luxury.

Alan Sondheim Kingston, Pa.

I took your test "How Vulnerable Are You to Stress?" All I could come up with was a score of 5, meaning almost not at all. I did not realize how nearly perfect my life really is.

Florence F. Wiggans La Jolla, Calif.

The assumption underlying your story is that stress is a given for our culture. That is not true. We have chosen to have a society with fierce competition, jammed freeways and "social mobility." I am a therapist and frequently feel disheartened while teaching relaxation exercises to people who work at intolerable jobs or lead lonely lives. Stress control is just another way to help us tolerate the loss of human and spiritual values.

Marilyn Sewell Lexington, Ky.

Before going to bed, I read your article on stress, then I lay awake worrying about it. I see what you mean.

Rod Chandler, U.S. Representative Eighth District, Washington Washington, D.C.

Turmoil in Central America

The current U.S. policy toward our southern neighbors is not new [June 6]; we have used it before. For the sake of American business interests and the political stability needed to ensure their profits, we have denied support to legitimately elected governments and popular revolutions, causing them to turn elsewhere for help. Then we shake an accusing finger in their faces as we staunchly affirm our resistance to Communist incursions.

Francis Marks Denver

The domino theory, often discussed during the Viet Nam War, is even more of a reality today. The Third World and underdeveloped countries are the immediate prey of the Soviet Union. The security of the free world is being threatened to a frightening degree. Both covert and overt aid should be given by the free governments to all nations that find themselves the targets of Soviet meddling in their affairs.

Christopher Faby Jessup, Md.

In your article on the death of U.S. Adviser Albert Schaufelberger III in San Salvador, you say that U.S. officials call servicemen in El Salvador trainers because the word advisers evokes memories of Viet Nam. Actions speak louder than words, however. U.S. officials will have to do more than change the terminology to hide the similarities.

Pamela E. Nuesseler San Diego

President Reagan said, "I do not believe that a majority of Congress or the country is prepared to stand by passively while the people of Central America are delivered to totalitarianism." Why not? He seems to have been willing to accept arrests of political dissidents and the lack of free elections in countries like Chile and Argentina.

John F. Grabowska Granada, Spain

Bankers' Blitz on Withholding Tax

Your story "Voting the Bankers' Way" [May 30] should have been titled "Voting Against the Overburdened Taxpayer." The "estimated $13.4 billion in new revenue" that would be gained by having the banks withhold taxes on income and dividends speaks for itself. Any "new revenue" for Washington is a new tax by definition. The banking industry has reported interest and dividend payments to the IRS on Form 1099 for years. If there is a great deal of "tax chiseling," the problem is one of enforcing the tax laws already on the books.

Frederick C. Ballard, President Pioneer Bank North Branch, Mich.

Poor Prospects for Graduates

Members of the class of 1983 should not believe their college degrees are wasted [June 6]. After I graduated in 1980, I accepted employment with a "lowpaying, low-prestige" establishment. Fortunately, my employer encouraged me to perform a variety of tasks, including computer operations, writing, accounting and negotiating. Where had I learned these skills? From my college professors, of course. I may not yet be chairman of the board, but I am putting my education to daily use.

Stephanie A. McEwan Orange, Calif.

The whole college experience has become an obsessive rat race geared to finding professional-level employment after graduation. The pressure is enormous to get into a top school with a significant national or regional reputation, to choose the most marketable major (knowing that today's popular field may be dead in the water within a year or two), to get top grades, to make as many "real world" career contacts as possible while honing one's job-hunting skills to a fine edge. Ironically, many who think they are lucky to find work will wind up learning that a job alone will not bring them happiness. How many of these new graduates will awake one day wondering, "Where am I, and how did I get here?"

Roger Schwartz Minneapolis

The Relativity of Evil

Author Paul Johnson in his book Modern Times [June 6] may be correct in blaming the decline of moral standards for the atrocities of the 20th century, but those committed in the name of religion and morality should also be remembered--for example, the Crusades. It is not secularization or moral relativism that has created the horrors of our age, but rather mankind's consistent willingness to sacrifice a fellow being for the sake of some ideal, be it secular or religious.

Brad Asher Golden, Colo. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.