Mailbag

Beyond doorknob rehab

Patrick McDonald is correct in saying typical Alcoholics Anonymous meetings emphasize the importance of finding a “higher power,” but AA has never suggested using a doorknob as a higher power. That idea originated in rehab facilities, not in AA.
     —Elinor Mowbray / Fountain Inn, S.C.

The good sense of second chance hiring

Thank you for your coverage of offender recovery in previous issues and this interview with Jeffrey Korzenik. I am a retired social worker, having spent 20 years in corrections in Missouri and Wisconsin. I’ve watched God work wonders.
     —Carrie Boehlke / Germantown, Wis.

Believe in the future

Janie B. Cheaney made me cry, her words so beautiful and poignant. I had not ­considered that our society might not believe in the future anymore. I pray for the day when marriage and children are again valued and protected.
     —Kathy Adams / Madison, Wis.

I was particularly struck by Cheaney’s story of her over-nourished pole beans. What an acute metaphor for the arrested development we see so regularly in those nurtured in “soil” that is “too rich.”
     —W. Wade Stooksberry II / Townville, S.C.

A trustworthy source?

Joel Belz’s column about tests for determining a good business reminded me of my auto mechanic, who told me 10 years ago he would keep my car in good condition and let me know when I needed a new one. This year, after 20 years with the same car, he showed me a list of needed repairs and told me it was time to buy my “Lamborghini” with the money I saved.
     —Marilyn Bartholme / Mahwah, N.J.

Is Paris well worth a Mass?

I recently reached my “creepy quotient” at my public library job last week. Every meeting had become a pronoun fest. God is speaking, and they deny His voice. I can no longer cast my pearls before swine.
     —Darla Dykstra / Kansas City, Mo.

I am well acquainted with the Bruce Hunt story Andrée Seu Peterson mentioned. My grandfather, Roy Byram, and Hunt were chained together and taken to prison.
     —Stanley Armes / Sterling, Ill.

Modern Persuasion

The BBC offers two excellent productions of Jane Austin’s Persuasion from 1971 and 1995. The Brits got the story right the first time and nearly all attempts since are mediocre.
     —Mike Rogers / Waxhaw, N.C.

From pig to human

I was thinking what a tremendous boon it would be for so many terminal cardiac patients to have ready access to a heart. Then this other thought intruded: The huntsman in Snow White was way ahead of his time!
     —Antonio Valdes-Dapena / Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va.

You didn’t mention the ­ethics of transplanting pig hearts into humans. Simply because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. As a critical care nurse, I’ve watched patients and their families go to extremes to avoid death instead of ­preparing for it.
     —Sarah Riddle / Oxford, Pa.

Corrections

Russia and Ukraine account for a third of the world’s exports of wheat and barley (“Increase,” July 30, p. 16).

Rebuild Ukraine funds a refugee school in Montene­gro, not Poland. Paul Gavrilyuk’s brother owns a social media intelligence company (“From Commun­ism to Christianity,” Aug. 13, p. 46).