From Our Readers

Hyperactive Children

Thank you for the article “Is My Child Hyperactive?” (June 8, 1984) I used the box (page 26) describing the symptoms of hyperactivity and applied them to my husband. After he read it, we decided to reduce the sugar in our diet. He also got off coffee. After three days he said he was feeling better, and I can tell he is a lot calmer.

B. H., Oklahoma

Remedy Against Roaches

I am 61 years old and have been a professional exterminator since I was 18. Recently on an assembly program reference was made to an item in the November 22, 1972, issue of Awake! recommending the use of boric acid as a remedy against roaches. Since your item was published, much more information has been printed on boric-acid use and its many dangers. I am enclosing for your review the November 1982 issue of Pest Control Technology, Cleveland, Ohio.

D. R., Kansas

The publication mentioned contains an article by M. S. Quraishi, and it states: “It appears that boric acid is comparatively much more toxic to infants and children than to adults; this should be kept in mind by the homeowner and pest control professional if this chemical is used in houses where toddlers are present.” It quotes a report by C. Brooke and T. Boggs that states: “Boric acid and sodium borate are sufficiently poisonous to cause severe symptoms and death when used in amounts commonly considered to be perfectly harmless. Boric acid is readily absorbed by a number of different routes and is particularly insidious in that symptoms may be minimal until a lethal dose has been absorbed.” We are pleased to pass this information on to our readers.​—ED.

Belief in the Devil

The devil idea is not only a personification of evil. It is a continuous evasive effort by religious people to keep from facing up to the responsibility of their own doing. This was demonstrated by your use of the photograph of victims of the Nazi death camps existing in Germany. (June 8, 1984, Awake! ) By blaming, even by innuendo, the devil rather than men for such atrocities, you are absolving yourself as a Christian, and the Christian faith as a whole, from any blame in those events. We cannot as individuals or organizations cop out on our responsibilities by saying, “The devil made me do it.”

J. S., North Dakota

Our article did not in any way attempt to absolve men from their responsibility in the badness, but rather it showed that the prime initiator of all badness is Satan the Devil, and that wicked men have willingly carried out his wishes. To shut one’s eyes to the existence of the Devil is to ignore the real cause of badness. Jehovah’s Witnesses are well acquainted with vicious persecution perpetrated, not by true Christianity, but by apostate Christianity, which is used by Satan the Devil. Yet, we agree that no one can rightfully excuse his own bad actions by blaming the Devil.​—ED.