Editor, Times-Union: To begin this letter, I want to express my appreciation to the few letters to the editor, written by high school and middle school students. I am very impressed that these young people choose to become involved in public debate about the many important issues of the day. In the final analysis these young people are the future.
In regards to (China Taiwan) April 15 by Megan Meulink, a seventh-grade student at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School. I want to be the first to thank Miss Meulink for her concern about this issue. The island nation of Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, has a long history. Not only in its relation to China, but in regards to occupation of this island nation by colonial and imperial forces from around the world, including the United States.
In 1544, the first Europeans (Portuguese sailors) visited the island. Dutch traders built a fort on the island in 1624. The Spanish built one in 1626. In 1641, the Dutch defeated and expelled the Spanish soldiers. In 1661, the Ming Dynasty of mainland China drove the Dutch off of the island of Taiwan. In 1683, Taiwan surrendered to the Manchus Dynasty, and Taiwan was annexed to China.
In 1887, Taiwan or Formosa was declared a province of China. In April 1895, the treaty of Shimonoseki was signed by China and Japan, handing Taiwan over to the occupation forces of Japan. In June 1895, the Japanese flag was raised at Taipei. After Japan's defeat by the United States in World War II, Taiwan became in 1949 the refuge of General Chiang Kai-Shek, who failed at overthrowing the Chinese government, led his defeated forces (aided by the U.S. government) to the island of Taiwan.
In 1950, Taiwan and the United States signed a mutual defense pact to keep China off the island of Taiwan. The island of Taiwan lies 90 miles off the coast of mainland China. The first Chinese official arrived in Taiwan in the year 607. This tropical island is rich in resources too numerous to mention. Taiwan's defense is mostly provided by the United States' sophisticated weapons system and is seen by China as a strategic threat to the mainland. A similar circumstance in Cuba in 1962 gave America cause for great concern, when Russia installed missiles 90 miles from the coast of our nation.
To conclude, today's young people are so fortunate to have all of the tools necessary for studying any subject. For a small price, the Encarta Encyclopedia standard CD for the personal computer made compiling this information simple for me. Also, an easy-to-read book titled "A Taste of Freedom" (memoirs of a Formosan independence leader) by Peng Ming-Min, a 260-pager, published by Holt Rinehart Winston.
Thanks to the readers, and again thanks to the young people. Remember to take the time to gather factual information, you will never regret it.
Gene May Etna Green
Know Jesus
Editor, Times-Union: In the first book of the Bible we read that God created man in his own image ... male and female created he them, Genesis l, ... and man became a living soul, Genesis 2. What is a soul? Webster's Dictionary reads that the soul is an entity which is regarded as being the immortal or spiritual part of the person, and though having no physical or material reality, is credited with the functions of thinking and willing, and hence determining all behavior.
In the Bible the Psalmist writes in Psalm 8:4: "I cannot understand how you (God) can bother with mere puny man, to pay attention to him!" (the Living Bible). Then in 8:6: "You put him in charge of everything you made, everything is put under his authority." We have to agree that doing that created problems.
Let us face this fact: We came into this world with nothing, and we will leave it with nothing. Just what does success mean to you and to me? Is it what God wants it to mean to you and me? The gifts of intelligence, personality, imagination and physical energy are from God. Without them where would we be? We came out of nothing; and if we are anything, it is because God is everything.
Recently I prepared a birthday card for my second son in which I commended him for taking gifts with which God has endowed him and honing them through education to better use them in his profession.
If God should withhold his unlimited power to sustain our earthly lives; or move this Earth closer to the sun, or away from it, our physical lives would shrivel into nothingness. Our eternal souls would be whisked away into a blessed or condemned eternity.
You and I need to pray, "All I have or am you, God, have given me. I am an eternal soul living by your grace and mercy; without which; I am nothing. Forgive my boastfulness. Help me to hear your son Jesus say, "Learn of me, and ye shall find rest unto your soul." Matthew ll:29c.
C.L. Hendrix Winona Lake via e-mail
Get The Facts
Editor, Times-Union: To M. Tapp, Apparently, you listen to Michael Moore and all of the drivel that he spills out. All of the aircraft that took off, lifted off at around the same time. All previous hijackings in the U.S. took the plane to a different location.
President Bush was in Florida at the time. There was no plane that was shot down. The plane heading toward the White House was crashed into the Pentagon by the terrorists.
I would never blame a sitting president for not doing anything. Do you think that any president that knowingly knew of an attack that was going to happen that they would not do everything in their power to prevent it? I think so. Even to the extent that I disagreed with President Clinton, I would not believe that he would let an attack on our soil happen. But, to this point, why did Mr. Clinton pressure our allies to release bin Laden?
Please get your facts from some one other than Michael Moore. Michael Moore's so-called film had 21 inaccuracies. This is a proven fact. I believe that our enemy is the terrorist not our president. Do not forget that they killed the Americans on board the airplanes and in our buildings.
