textfiles/magazines/CYBERSENIOR/cybersenior.3.2

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	* THE
	* CYBERSENIOR
	* REVIEW
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VOLUME 3 NUMBER 2                        APRIL 1996
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The CyberSenior Review is a project of the Internet
Elders List, an active world-wide Internet  Mailing
List for seniors. The Review is written, edited and
published by members of the Elders  for  interested
netizens worldwide.  Contributions  from non-Elders
are welcome. Please query one of the editors first.

Contents  copyrighted  1996  by the Internet Elders
List and by the authors. All rights reserved by the
authors. Quoting is permitted with attribution.

The editorial board of The CyberSenior Review:

Elaine Dabbs edabbs@syd.dwt.csiro.au
Pat Davidson patd@chatback.demon.co.uk
James Hursey jwhursey@cd.columbus.oh.us

=================================================================

CONTENTS, Volume 3, Number 2, April 1996 

EDITORIAL by Elaine Dabbs

SNAKE OIL, SUGAR PILLS, AND RATS by Eloise Blanpied
    Eloise looks at recent research that discloses the close 
    relationship between mind and body.

WEDDING BELLS IN AMISH COUNTRY by Bill Powrie
    Bill returns with another in his series on the quiet, gentle
    folk of Amish country with a description of an Amish wedding.

SINISTER GOINGS-ON! by Pat Davidson
    Are you adroit and dextrous? Or sinister and gauche? Pat 
    explores the mirror-image world of the lefthander.

THE AGED MAN, a poem by Jim Hursey
    Who is that old guy anyway?

==============================================================

EDITORIAL
by Elaine Dabbs

With the seeming breakdown of community and family values in our 
societies almost worldwide these days, it's refreshing to read in 
Eloise's article that we don't need to suffer deep stress.  No, 
if we recognise that we can ease our burden and enjoy the luxury 
of a calmness of spirit in the knowledge that the body can heal 
itself, we will notice a remarkable change in our health.  The 
power of the mind can affect the body processes -- so, believe 
this and there can be a new way of life.  Read Eloise's article 
about snake oil, sugar pills and rats -- you may even lose 
weight!

We welcome another article by Bill about the gentle, quiet Amish 
people and the customs followed when a wedding is announced.  
Perhaps it's the very strict following of these old customs 
which gives a sense of security and confidence to these folk who 
don't appear to suffer the violence affecting so many parts of 
the world these days.  Bill tells us that marriage is a very 
special occasion for the Amish -- does this follow in our own 
societies?

Being a left-hander myself, I found myself nodding when I read 
Pat's article about the almost notoriety given to left-handers 
in days gone by.  There was a claim that to be left-handed was 
unnatural; we weren't even allowed the luxury of following our 
natural inclination but had to go through the torture -- yes, it 
was torture -- of using our right hand when, as five year olds, 
we started school.  I well remember those early days.  However, 
it's very handy being able to use either right or left hand when 
painting the house so I just shake with silent laughter when I 
watch a right-hander trying to paint in an awkward corner.

JimH says in his poem, "The Aged Man" that "wasted tears are 
those for youth."  How true. Do we want to be young again with 
the accompanying anguish?  Surely not.  We can well afford to 
enjoy our senior years by accepting ourselves as we are and 
relax while we read our latest CyberSenior Review.

====================================================================

SNAKE OIL, SUGAR PILLS, AND RATS

by Eloise Blanpied

There's an argument going on between two factions concerned with 
health and healing, but neither faction seems to have the crucial 
issue in focus.  On one side are the groups of healers who offer 
predominantly anecdotal evidence that their potions or practices 
(herbs, oils, touch) can cure illnesses ranging from the common cold 
to cancer; on the other side are the traditionally-trained physicians 
who reject all such "nonsense" in favor of AMA-approved medical 
practices.  Each faction is convinced that its own materials and 
methods are curative and that the other's are either worthless or 
dangerously harmful.

Overlooked by each is one of the most important concepts in the health
field; that is, potions or practices do not cure or heal.  One's own 
body heals itself, most often on its own (colds, flus, minor cuts, 
bruises, strains), but sometimes needing an assist from outside 
(fractures, appendicitis, major injuries or ailments).  No 
intervention -- neither herbs nor drugs nor surgery -- will contribute
to a cure if the body's natural healing process is not working.  This 
essential process is extremely complex and not yet fully understood 
but is currently being rigorously investigated.

Our cultural history is filled with humorous or sad tales of travelling
medicine shows complete with charlatans and snake oil remedies.
Defining the consumers of these remedies as gullible victims has 
deflected attention from the more important fact that the bizarre 
concoctions being sold often did seem to work.  A more modern 
rendition of the same phenomenon substitutes sugar pills for snake 
oil, and the positive response to the pills was smilingly discounted 
as "just the placebo effect," reducing the event to a bit of 
foolishness on the part of the patient.  Yet when both of these events 
are considered more objectively, profoundness, not foolishness, is 
obvious.  The positive response to snake oil remedies and sugar pills
demonstrates the power of the mind to affect the body processes.  It 
would seem that in each of the above cases it was the individual's 
_belief_ in the curative power of the substance that resulted in the 
cure or relief of symptoms.

But then there are rats.  In this case, the rats were part of a
taste-aversion experiment conducted at the University of Rochester.  
In order to determine the lasting power of induced taste aversion, an
injection of a drug which causes nausea was initially administered to 
the rats jointly with their ingestion of saccharin-flavored water.  
Thereafter, only saccharin-flavored water was administered, but it was 
found that an aversion to the saccharin taste had already developed.  
It persisted for 50 days.  The rats had "learned" to associate 
saccharin with nausea.  Yet there's more to the story.  Toward the end 
of the experiment, the rats began dying.  Further investigation of the 
nausea-producing drug revealed that it also contained a property that 
suppresses the immune system. Subsequent experiments confirmed the 
following: Although the drug is administered once, the association of 
it with the flavor of saccharin produces not only a persistent taste 
aversion, but also a persistent suppression of the rats' immune 
defense against illness.  Obviously. belief is not the controlling 
element in these studies as one would be hard-pressed to attribute a 
belief system to a rat.  But clearly, some action of the rat's brain 
was involved with the functioning of the immune system.

In all three examples -- snake oil, sugar pills, and rats -- the
mind/brain influences physical health, and, as the examples 
illustrate, the mind/body connection can produce either a positive or 
negative response; it can strengthen or weaken the body's healing 
process.  How and why this happens is the decade's challenge for the 
psychoneurological sciences, and the challenge for the rest of us is 
to make sense of the many and varied findings that appear almost daily 
in the press.

For example, we've all heard of the connection between Type A 
Personality (aggressive, competitive) and heart disease but, on the 
basis of media reports, few of us can describe the fine points of the 
research that led to the theory, or the details of the personality 
type, or the actual connection with heart disease.  Few of us realize 
that some subsequent research failed to find a connection between Type 
A behavior and heart disease; that one group of researchers identified 
hostility as the key behavior in heart disease patients; that others 
identified stress and insecurity; that none of the research 
consistently showed a connection between their selected behavior and 
heart disease.  Some studies even showed that Type B individuals 
(unassertive, noncompetitive) were at greater risk for heart disease 
than Type A individuals.

It is clear that along with genetic, environmental, and dietary 
factors, behavior is somehow connected to heart disease, but it is 
also clear that more than _observed_ behavior is involved.  The 
various and sometimes conflicting results in heart disease research 
suggests that the link is the intention behind the behavior.  Thus, 
all else being equal, two individuals may be fiercely competitive but 
may be at very different levels of risk for heart disease: one may be 
a happy competitor treating the competition as a game; the other may 
be a stressed competitor whose self-esteem is involved with the 
outcome of the competition.   These fine distinctions are often
ignored by the popularized theories about behavior and health.

We have all felt the impact of emotions on our physical state and, if 
we've not experienced it ourselves, we've heard stories of how -- in 
some individuals -- grief seems to trigger illness.  We have noticed 
that, while some persons manage to keep illness at bay until a 
significant event or obligation has been accomplished, others succumb 
in anticipation of the event.  These are common examples of how the 
mind/body connection influences us daily.  But the influences are 
unintentional; they happen to us; we do not consciously bring them 
about.

Currently, research is being done on attempts to use the mind 
intentionally to change certain processes of the body, to activate a 
sluggish immune system, to lower blood pressure, to calm an irregular 
heart beat, to soothe gastrointestinal turmoil, to alleviate skin 
problems.  This work raises the potential for a radically different 
approach to health, an approach that emphasizes mental health and 
mental activism as a way of life (literally).

The extraordinary importance of the relationship between our physical
well-being and how we handle life's joys and sorrows and the potential 
for using our minds directly to preserve and enhance our physical 
health makes arguments about potions and practices seem very much off 
the mark.

====================================================================

WEDDING BELLS IN AMISH COUNTRY

by Bill Powrie

An Amish wedding is surrounded by much preparation and custom. I will 
attempt to lead you through what is a typical wedding in the Lancaster 
County Amish country.

First thing on the agenda for the perspective groom is the Testimonial 
Letter. This is a request to marry a certain woman. It is obtained 
usually at the fall communion after the October 11th fast day. The 
request is given in writing to the Bishop and two Ministers of that 
church for signature (usually in Old German script.) The signatures 
signify that the groom is a member in good standing of the district 
church.

The letter is then taken by the groom to a Deacon of the bride's 
district church (if it is a different district). The Deacon then agrees 
to take the letter to the bride's house for verification. The Deacon 
verifies that the bride wishes to marry the groom and that she has 
remained pure. The bride's parents probably have been informed of the 
plans long before the Deacon arrives. If there are any problems they 
would be discussed at this time. If no problems exist the Deacon tells 
the bride and groom that they may begin the preparations for the event.

Most of the work and preparations for the wedding are done by the 
parents of the bride. One of the first things that must be done is the 
planting of the celery. Lots of celery is needed for an Amish wedding 
feast. Most Amish families use about 100 stalks of celery per year. For 
a wedding year they will use about 300 stalks. So if you go by an Amish 
garden and see an abundance of celery growing you can bet someone is 
going to get married in the family. The celery is planted in June or 
early July.

Choosing a date for the wedding is hard. The main season for weddings in 
the Amish community is November and December. This is the time when the 
harvest is done and the weather is too bad for much farm work, thus more 
time for other things such as weddings. The wedding usually takes place 
on a Tuesday or Thursday. This is so they do not interfere with church 
services and any other events in the community. This is not because the 
wedding is not important but because the attendance would suffer if 
anything else was going on at the same time.

How many to invite is always a problem. It is a given fact that all  
members of both churches and all members of both families will be 
invited.  All young people in the district 16 years old or over will be 
invited and the number of male and female youth must be kept equal. This 
is done so they can be paired off for seating at the tables for the 
meals. 

Two weeks before the wedding the bride and groom go to  the nearest city 
to get the license. On this week, the second Sunday after fall 
communion, the publishing of couples to be married takes place in the 
regular church service. On the day of publishing the vows the bride and 
groom are not present at the service. That Sunday is the groom's first 
official meeting with the bride's parents.

Two single men and two single girls are chosen as attendants. These 
cannot be dating couples. Other helpers needed are ushers, waiters, 
roast cooks, potato cooks, men to set up the tables, women to take care 
of the tablecloths and young boys to care for the visitors' horses and 
buggies as they arrive. 

The wedding dress is made by the bride. She buys identical material for 
her attendants and her dress. Colors are navy blue, purple and other 
shades of blue. Brides wear white capes and aprons and black high topped 
shoes. 

The groom and his attendants all wear black suits like the ones worn to 
church. Coats and vests fasten with hooks and eyes; shirts are white, 
shoes and socks are black; black bow ties and a wide brimmed hat 
complete the outfit.

The day before the wedding the bench wagon appears. It carries the 
benches to be set up for the wedding. All the volunteer workers arrive 
at the bride's house to clear out the furniture, set up the benches and 
do all the last minute jobs. On this day also, I might add, the groom 
must cut the heads off all the chickens to be used for the wedding 
feast.

A good baker is brought forward to make the doughnuts, about 400 
usually. The bride and groom help with all the last minute jobs.

The Wedding Day

The groom is up at about four a.m. on the wedding day to do the farm 
chores. Helpers start arriving at about 6:30 a.m. The bride and groom 
greet each visitor and helper as they arrive. The helpers are organized 
by the bride's mother. Most helpers come from the bride's church 
district. There are potatoes to peel, fruit to fix and cole slaw to 
make. The main dish for the dinner (a mixture of shredded chicken and 
bread the Amish call roast) is made at this time. All these things are 
done in a basement or summer kitchen building so the main house can be 
used for seating.

The ushers are responsible for seating of the guests and waiting on 
tables at the dinner. At about 8 a.m. the ushers gather everyone up to 
begin the ceremony. The ministers take their places first, then the 
parents of the bride and groom, then the grandparents and other 
relatives and friends. Men are in one section, women in the other.

Young people enter separately. First sisters and brothers of the bride 
and groom, then recently married couples, then single cousins and so on. 
When males enter the building they all remove their hats except the 
ministers. The ministers remove their hats at the end of the first hymn. 
This says to everyone that the house is now a place of worship. While 
the first hymn is being sung the ministers and the bridal couple go to a 
room set aside for counseling. The couple is asked one more time if they 
have remained pure. After both have affirmed this they are sent back 
down to the main room. Then the ministers decide who will open the 
ceremony, who will read the scriptures, who will do the wedding ceremony 
and who will close. With this decided, the ministers return to the main 
room and take their places at the front of the gathering. The bride and 
groom and their attendants are seated in chairs facing the ministers at 
the front of the room.

The minister gives an opening story from the Bible. Then there is a 
silent prayer. All present rise to their feet and turn around facing the 
benches and kneel for prayer. When the prayer is over everyone stands 
but does not turn around. The Deacon then reads a scripture after which 
everyone turns around and sits down. The main ceremony then begins.

Included in the service are usually words such as "We have (bride's 
name) and (groom's name) who wish to marry. If anyone has any objections 
now is the time to make them known. If no objections are made the bride 
and groom come forward to the Bishop holding hands.

The groom is asked if he can confess that he accepts this woman as his 
wife until death separates them and that this is from the Lord. The 
Bride is asked the same thing. Then the groom is asked to confess that 
he will care for his wife and be loyal to her in sickness and in health.  
Then the same is asked of the bride. The Bishop then places the bride's 
hand into the grooms hand, says a few words of blessing and all three 
people kneel. The Bishop says "Go forth in the name of the Lord you are 
now man and wife."

After several ministers give testimony and the parents of the bridal 
couple give thanks to God and all those present, and a closing hymn, all 
file out of the room in an orderly procession.

The Reception

The meal was being prepared while the ceremony was going on. The tables 
are set up in a U-shaped pattern around the room saving a corner space 
for the bridal couple. All the dishes are brought out and set on the 
tables. The bridal party enters the room and then all others are seated. 
After the meal is set, a prayer is said then the first shift of people 
eat. Then another prayer is said and they leave and the second shift 
sits down. The meal is served in shifts because there is usually not 
enough room for everyone to eat at once. 

Some gifts are left on a table for the couple but most will be received 
when the couple goes visiting in the next week. Most of the gifts are 
practical and can be used by the couple at their home or on their farm.

The remainder of the day is spent chatting with friends and renewing 
friendships and getting to know the bridal couple. All this goes on till 
the evening meal. After the evening meal the young people stay to sing 
hymns and play games. The older folks slowly begin to leave as some have 
a long way to go to get home. 

Thus we end our little buggy stop at an Amish wedding. We will jump back 
into the buggy for now and return another time to let you know more 
about these quiet, gentle people.

=====================================================================

SINISTER GOINGS-ON!

by Pat Davidson
   
I'm not at all keen on being called sinister, fyuggy-fisted, corry-
handed, cack-handed, gauche or  a southpaw! On the other hand, if you'll
forgive the expression, I wouldn't mind being called adroit or dextrous. 
You see how language can affect one's image? 

Yes, I'm a  left-hander, or sinister, in Latin. Gauche is French for the 
same, as are fyuggy-fisted and corry-fisted from Scots, cack-handed from 
English and southpaw from American. The bias against lefthanders started 
way back in Biblical times, when the sheep on the right hand went to 
heaven, and you can guess where the poor goats on the left went! There 
are at least one hundred similar references in the Bible to the 
preference of right over left. In ancient Rome, good omens came from the 
right, the bad from the left, while in the Muslim world, the right hand, 
or "clean" hand, was used for eating food, the left kept for wiping 
oneself.

In a right-handed world, it is easy to see why a lefthander appears 
awkward or clumsy when using right handed tools.  My husband used to 
flinch when he saw me cutting bread, my knife clutched in my left hand, 
and I was absolutely frustrated when I tried to use a tinopener. 
Scissors, potato peelers, bottleopeners were likewise of no use. I 
became so confused that even when I was given the present of a 
lefthanded bottle opener I still chewed up the cork. Putting salt in the 
dishwasher is a nightmare, when I have to contort my left hand at right 
angles to my wrist. Even the kitchen cupboard doors give me problems, 
with the door handles on the right side, the "wrong" side for me.

Left-handed children of my generation were put to early torture when 
teachers forced them to write using the right hand. We had to endure our 
knuckles being rapped with a ruler every time we put the pen in our 
left, and also when the nibbed pen in the approved hand, managed to 
spatter our copywriting books with ink. Try copperplate writing with a 
nibbed pen in your right hand, and it's difficult enough. Try it in your 
left, and you'll have some idea of what we left-handers went through! As 
for sewing, we  had to turn the material if our hemming was to run in 
the same direction as that of the rest of the class. At least we were 
allowed to use our left hands for sewing.

Learning to play musical instruments can also cause problems for left-
handers. For instance, I've found the guitar is strung the wrong way 
round, and I could never convince my music teacher that I wasn't 
deliberately thumping with my left hand, drowning out the melody of my 
right.

Driving the car was also difficult at first, my left foot heavy on the 
clutch and break, my left hand forcing the gear lever. I avoid driving 
in European countries with their insistence of driving on the right; I 
automatically would look left first.

Invited out to dinner, I have to make sure that I'm seated at the end of 
a table, with no one on my left, or else I could be innocently eating 
what would be the food of my neighbour. Using a spoon requires careful 
orchestration to avoid collision. As for drinking, it would be more 
natural for me to reach for his glass rather than my own on my right. 
Far better to seat the left and the right apart, or else seat all the 
lefthanders together.

We of the left would have no difficulty on being invited to dine at 
Buckingham Palace. Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother 
are lefthanded, as I believe, is Prince William. Dinner at the White 
House would also cause no qualms, for President Clinton is lefthanded, 
very handy for State occasions with the British Royal Family. In fact, 
four out of the last five American presidents -- Ford, Reagan, Bush and 
Clinton -- have been sinister, in the Roman meaning. Is Bob Dole a left-
hander, I wonder? The odds on four out of five people being left-handed 
are one in ten thousand, I've been told.

The artistic world has benefited greatly from the drawings and paintings 
of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, the cinema from the acting of 
Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe and Charlie 
Chaplin,  while Cole Porter, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Phil Collins 
are well-known names in music.  All are left-handed.

Did Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Jack the Ripper and 
Adolf Hitler have problems with being left-handed? Perhaps some of the 
great suffering they caused was the result of trying to assert their 
place in a right-handed world. They certainly deserve the appellation of 
"sinister" and its presumed link with evil.

Nowadays society is much more tolerant of left-handers. With lefthanded 
tools and appliances being  manufactured, perhaps we might eventually 
become no longer gauche and sinister, but adroit and dextrous!

====================================================================

	THE AGED MAN
	
	by Jim Hursey	

	What aged man is this I see
	Who, thoughtful, rubs his grizzled chin
	And looks at me, and seems surprised
	To see me gazing back at him?
	
	His neck is sinewy with age,	
	And wrinkles mark him here and there,	
	While crow's feet rim his ancient eyes,
	And grey's his beard, and white his hair.
	
	A man, it seems, of character,
	Acquainted with life's joys, life's tears,
	"Who are you, aged man?" I say,
	"How came your venerable years?"

	He frowns a bit, makes no reply,
	A study in perplexity,
	And looks at me, concerned, askance,
	As if to say, "Don't you know me?"

	I'm taken, then, somewhat aback.
	Is this a fellow I should know?
	He seems to look much like myself,
	Though time has dimmed the youthful glow.

	Then suddenly a wild surmise
	Enlightens me. It's plain to see
	That, even though he's older now,
	This aged man, that he is me.

	Ah, no, I think; this cannot be:
	To've gotten old? It's all a lie.
	Where, then, are all those yesterdays?
	What happened to the younger guy?

	"Come, come, my friend," the other says,
	"There is but one eternal truth:
	We live, we age, in time we die,
	And wasted tears are those for youth."

	Together, then, we raise our hands.
	A wink, a toast, a glass embrace,
	And smiling now, at ease, content,
	Together shave the other's face.

====================================================================
end cybersenior.3.2