The Movement to Strengthen Marriage

"The idea of settling down, having a couple of kids and living in a house with a white picket fence is long gone."

KEROLYNN LUKES MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

Marriage and the family form the foundation upon which every community is built [Cover Story, Feb. 27]. When the foundation starts to crumble, the whole structure is at risk of collapse. As a nation, the best way for us to address crime, teen pregnancy, welfare, gangs, high school dropouts and a whole array of other problems is to focus on the root cause of them all: a breakdown of the family. This should be No. 1 on the national agenda. We need fewer sleazy talk shows and more programs that show married couples with children. Our kids and young adults need positive television role models, and our country needs a higher standard of behavior.

Steven Head Joplin, Missouri AOL: SHead52296

THOSE WHO WOULD MAKE DIVORCE MORE difficult to obtain should know that this approach was tried before with disastrous results. In the middle of the 6th century A.D., the Roman Emperor Justinian I outlawed no-fault divorce in his famous Digest. For hundreds of years before that action, Romans had both divorce for cause and no-fault divorce. Justinian, as a good Christian, felt that it was his duty to curtail the loose practice of divorce and thereby bring law into closer conformity with the Gospels. The Romans, many of whom at that time were not Christians, were so incensed that Justin II repealed the divorce prohibition less than a year after his predecessor's death in 565.

Peter J. Riga Houston

As devastating as my parents' divorce was for me, the depression I have battled most of my life was rooted in the 13 years of cold, angry marriage I lived through prior to their breakup. From a very early age I often felt powerless and sad, even though outwardly I appeared cheerful so as not to cause further upset. For me, the divorce was one part relief--that the fighting was over--and two parts grief, as it confirmed for me that ultimately I was powerless in the matter. Staying together ``for the sake of the children'' is beside the point and probably ends up damaging them instead.

Name Withheld by Request Atlanta

Your cover photograph demeans marriage by showing a bride and groom bound to each other, an obvious parody of ``tying the knot.'' The use of rope around two nonthinking wax figurines waiting for meltdown is diabolical. If I were contemplating marriage or were newly married, gazing at your cover for too long would give me cold feet.

Joseph M. Griska Watertown, Connecticut

Marriage is not about making a high score on a compatibility test. It is a lifetime commitment to build a relationship and is somewhat like undertaking a Lego project without instructions. In addition, those who are outside the marriage castle are eager to get in, but those who are already inside are eager to get out.

Ammunni Bala Subramanian Auburn, Alabama

Microsoft, an Unsettled Giant

Re your article on charges of monopolistic practices by Microsoft [Business, Feb. 27]: The U.S. government should be careful of the actions it takes against the company, which is the world's largest manufacturer of software. The U.S. does not need to lose another one of its pioneer industries.

Matthew W. Guido North Tonawanda, New York

U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin is to be highly commended for rejecting the government's antitrust settlement with Microsoft. If Attorney General Janet Reno fights the judge's rejection ``with Microsoft's help in court,'' we will then have two foxes guarding the hen house, Reno and antitrust chief Anne Bingaman. The antitrust settlement Reno is defending was a mere slap on Microsoft's wrist. When it was announced, you could hear groans from companies all over the computer and software world. Fear of retaliation by Microsoft had kept firms out of the controversy. Now some of the formerly silent computer companies are backing Judge Sporkin in his refusal to go along with the Justice Department's wrist slap. They have come to realize that they should have put up a good, hard fight long ago, when the government first started looking into Microsoft's tough practices. Unfortunately, others are still too afraid of retaliation to venture into the fray.

Howard Rodgers Prescott, Arizona

JUDGE SPORKIN'S STATEMENT THAT ``Microsoft is so powerful that neither the market nor the government is capable of dealing with all of its monopolistic practices'' is as ambiguous as the antitrust laws that make it possible to bring such issues to court. Is Microsoft accused of committing fraud, sabotaging its rivals' production lines or violating people's right not to buy Microsoft products? No. The company is being persecuted for being the best in the market.

Ronen Nakash Marina del Rey, California

Change Is a Constant

The political problem posed by the Mexican state of Chiapas has been amplified by the media, as shown by your critical article ``Riding Off in All Directions'' [Mexico, Feb. 27]. President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon has responded to economic and political problems with the concepts of sovereignty and peace, adapting his strategies to the needs of the moment. A frequent change in strategy is characteristic of all modern governments. At present, change is the rule everywhere, not the exception. The world's economic system results in international market wars. No country is responsible for the crises produced by the speculation of international financial institutions. Keeping the peace and avoiding the death of innocent human beings wholly justifies any change of direction in a civilized society. There is no indecision in Mexico. Instead there is tolerance and justice--exactly what the world needs.

Ambassador Luis Eugenio Todd Permanent Delegate of Mexico to UNESCO Paris

Don't Enjoy Castro's Failure

Through years of exploitation and encouragement of brutal dictators who supported U.S. business and abused the Cuban people, Washington contributed to the conditions that brought Fidel Castro to power [Cover Stories, Feb. 20]. Then U.S. policy petulantly helped push Castro into the Soviet embrace. To the average Cuban, Castro is still well received. His relative popularity after years of a vindictive U.S. embargo speaks volumes about the many positive aspects of his historically necessary revolution. To exult in Castro's failure is neither fair nor accurate. No society, not even the U.S.'s, could effectively survive a punitive 33-year embargo. Americans, please listen and deal with the man your government and businessmen helped create. Morally, you owe Cuba that much.

Rani V. Palo, Professor Augustana University College Camrose, Alberta

IT IS AMAZING THAT YOUR ARTICLE ABOUT Castro didn't mention the gross human-rights violations that have taken place during the 36 years of his dictatorship: the torture and execution of thousands of dissidents, as many as 5,000 political prisoners still in Cuban jails, and the organization, training and support of terrorists throughout Latin America in the 1960s and '70s. The U.S. embargo has solid moral grounds.

Teodoro Garcia Buenos Aires

If Cubans could read TIME freely, they would be shocked to learn that their great leader jokes about shooting a dedicated worker or about prostitution not being a way of solving Cuba's unemployment crisis. The once remarkable health-care system is a shambles; visitors regularly carry suitcases of even the most common medications to the island. And the proposal to increase the price of alcohol and cigarettes is yet another insult, since these ``luxuries'' are the only escape enjoyed by the people of Castro's Cuba.

Carlos Lugo Aguilar Toronto

In his dinner conversation with TIME editors, Castro says capitalism ``is a catastrophe for the world'' and denounces its effects on the environment. In Europe we know that communism did nothing to preserve our planet. But we also know that ecological neglect was forced on the people of Eastern Europe as long as the two systems were competing for world domination. When communism ceased to be its adversary, capitalism should have changed its system of values. Instead, as Castro says, it keeps on ``digging its own grave.''

Volker Lange Kleinostheim, Germany

Diamonds for Divinity

SO TELEVANGELIST PAT ROBERTSON is dancing with the devil in Zaire, participating in that country's highly lucrative diamond trade [Zaire, Feb. 27]. I find it curious that a man who professes his life's work is preaching the word of God would have a net worth exceeding several million dollars. Oh, I forgot, those dollars are from the profits of the many corporations owned by Robertson or his church. I wonder if the revenue realized from his African endeavors will be tax-exempt because it comes from his African Development Co.

Alexandra R. Helzer Laguna Niguel, California

I TAKE EXCEPTION TO YOUR SNIDE REPORT on Robertson's relief and development efforts in Zaire. I made five trips to that country to help set up and organize Robertson's farm and feeding projects that would become the African Development Co. It is more than difficult to get cooperation from all sectors of various Zairian political and governmental divisions. Robertson has persevered. He has invested his time, his talent and his financial resources in Zaire. Robertson is personally funding the African Development Co. to the tune of more than $2 million. At least 2,000 Zairians have received regular jobs; eight medical clinics currently function with doctors, nurses and medicine funded by Robertson. Time ought to be praising Robertson instead of pummeling him.

Harry Covert Alexandria, Virginia

Catch-Up on the Info Highway

Don't underestimate the Japanese. They are late starters, but we know they not only catch up; they are capable of leaving everyone behind, even in the multimedia race [Business, March 6].

Krishan Kalra New Delhi

I hope American companies are students of history and will prevent Japan from stealing the U.S.'s competitive advantage and dominating still another market that the U.S. has come to think it owns. The Japanese are not creative, but they are masters at overtaking an industry through reverse engineering. Time and time again, they have managed to replicate accomplishments of the U.S. and other countries. We have reached a crossroads in which government regulation is warranted. Officials in Washington should help protect U.S. ingenuity.

Mark Land Brookline, Massachusetts AOL: MSL69

Star-Crossed Cinemactors

GINIA BELLAFANTE'S PAEAN TO THE PRESENT Hollywood crop of young actors, ``Generation X-Cellent'' [Cinema, Feb. 27], devastatingly illustrates the debasement of currency in talent and beauty of today's actresses compared with their counterparts of the 1930s and '40s. Can the dim-bulb performance of Marisa Tomei in Only You (1994) stand up to Carole Lombard's luminosity in My Man Godfrey (1936)? How can Winona Ryder, Uma Thurman, Sarah Jessica Parker and Drew Barrymore compete with Rita Hayworth's Gilda, Gene Tierney's Laura, Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa in Casablanca and Merle Oberon's Cathy in Wuthering Heights? It's the same twentysomething age group, but these actresses had more than faces. They were riper, more mature, more compelling and light-years ahead in performance power. Jean Harlow in any of her 1930s flicks on video is a greater presence than all of today's vapid players put together. There's a reason it's called the Golden Age!

Gene C. Fusco Annapolis, Maryland

ABOUT A DECADE AGO, I CO-WROTE THE movie St. Elmo's Fire with the film's director, Joel Schumacher. We attempted to show what life is like for people in their early 20s, when many of them come to grips with their adult identities. The actors who starred in that movie did not become the so-called Brat Pack until after the movie was made and the media had labeled them as such. I did not fully realize the harm of this term until I read your article on new young stars, with its chart updating the careers of the stars of St. Elmo's Fire. What I don't like is that the media is once again trying to label actors. Call them Generation X-Cellent now, so that in 10 years you can write the story of what ever happened to those ex-Generation Xers who have since been replaced by Generation Next-ers. It is hard enough to do good work in this industry. The pressure of the label ``hot young actor'' can be very destructive for artistic instincts. I wish these young stars well in fighting those demons.

Carl Kurlander Los Angeles