Letters

Our

guide to getting in shape garnered personal testimonials from active exercisers, compliments from fitness trainers and appreciation from those who are happily full-bodied and still in top form

Bravo for showing that fitness isn't only for the thin, the strong or even just for young people [Aug. 8]. As an exercise physiologist, I have spent my career trying to change how people look at exercise. We all need to get back to making fitness activities feel as they did when we were kids—full of fun, movement and creativity—not the drudgery of the same old 30 minutes on a treadmill or an hour at the gym. Catherine Cram Middleton, Wisconsin, U.S.

In our modern society's relentless pursuit of physical fitness, we risk forgetting a crucial factor: mental well-being. Our grandparents lived healthier lives not just because they sweated more than we do but also because they fretted less. Technology helps us get more done in the least possible time, but today's lifestyles mean frazzled nerves for most of us. Unless we work simultaneously toward greater peace of mind, physical fitness alone will be an empty Nirvana. The ancient dictum of a "sound mind in a sound body" has never been more relevant. M. Venkata Krishnan Madras, India

I am a 56-year-old male, mostly vegetarian, a non-smoker and only a social drinker. Both my parents, prior to their reaching age 40, suffered from heart ailments and diabetes. I have been practicing yoga and taking a brisk walk five times a week for the past three decades. A few months back, my yearly checkup showed an abnormal stress test [result]. Angiography indicated multiple blocks in my blood vessels, some of them major. The next step was to have heart-bypass surgery. I was shocked and asked my cardiologist how that could happen after I had been taking so much care. He calmly replied, "Just the way you like to inherit the wealth of your parents, you should be prepared to accept their genes too." I was one of the fortunate ones who was warned in advance. There are millions who do not get this chance. Pradeep B. Chinai Bombay

How about ballroom dancing for exercise? It's joy, not work. Swing, salsa, tango for blood pressure, heart, balance and alertness. All that while you hear great music and hold someone in your arms. Vera Lee Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.

I have some svelte friends who could learn a lot from your article. Unfortunately, they are all downtown drinking and chain-smoking. Meanwhile, I am enjoying a quiet evening at home with TIME, resting up from 70 km of cycling on the weekend. I may wear larger-size clothes than some, but my blood pressure and cholesterol levels are low. We need much more reporting on the issue of health, as opposed to thinness. Stacey Paul Chicago

Thanks to TV, the internet and video games, it's no wonder that we have lost even the most basic instinct for staying fit. Exercise should be a daily activity at the top of everyone's list of things to do. It gives a feeling of well-being that cannot be matched by any of our more stationary daily activities. Exercise should not be a chore. It should be a personal requirement that everyone feels happy to fulfill. Leon Rafailov New York

Safe Spaceflight "Why NASA Can't Get it Right" reported on the safety concerns plaguing the space-shuttle program [Aug. 8]. Over the years I have found it difficult to support NASA, a government operation that I believe is basically a welfare program for aeronautical engineers. After a hiatus of 2 1/2 years, NASA engineers launched the Discovery shuttle and encountered the same problem—falling insulation foam from the external fuel tank during lift-off—that doomed the previous shuttle, the Columbia, in 2003. NASA's engineers, managers and technicians should refund to the government the full amount of their salaries and benefits for the past 2 1/2 years. Rod Rawson Miami

Now that the Discovery shuttle is safely back on Earth, I hope you will give NASA the credit it is due instead of bashing the agency about a few chunks of foam. The camera that allowed technicians to see the insulation foam provided information about damage that was assessed and fixed. I believe NASA got it right. After all, the International Space Station has been restocked, the new safety systems (cameras, sensors, etc.) worked perfectly, and all seven American astronauts are back on solid ground having never doubted their agency's ability to get them home safely. Emily J. Chambers Columbus, Georgia, U.S.

Skepticism about the I.R.A. "A Farewell to Arms" reported on the announcement by the Irish Republican Army that it is formally ending its armed campaign to force Britain out of Northern Ireland [Aug. 8]. The story reminded me of 1993, when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo peace accords and shook hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. We all applauded and thought peace had finally come to the Middle East. We so wanted it to be true. But terrorists are con artists. Their promises are worthless. They are good at murdering innocents and then blaming the victims. Terrorists quit only when they are tired, afraid or outgunned. And even then, there is always one terrorist who refuses to give up. So I am not applauding the I.R.A.'s announcement. I am tired of being made a fool of again and again. Batya Dagan Los Angeles

Judging the Nominee Re your report on supreme court nominee John Roberts [Aug. 1]: As a Roman Catholic like Roberts, I want to say that being Catholic does not necessarily make a person a right-wing religious fanatic or a pawn of the Pope. Catholics are thinking individuals. I am not a Republican, but I would not mind seeing Roberts as a Justice. Any chance Bush might resign and John Roberts become President? Nils J. Mikkelsen Plano, Texas, U.S.

Tackling Terror Re TIME's reporting on the manhunt for and arrest of London's suspected suicide bombers [Aug. 8]: I am a British Asian who has lived in the U.K. for most of my life. I am as proud of this country and its value system as any native-born Briton. Recently, for the first time, I have felt like a stranger in my own country. It will be a long time before I can take a rucksack or other bag on the tube without being looked at suspiciously by fellow passengers and the police, and I do not blame them. The responsibility lies firmly with the terrorists who caused this situation and not with the police or my fellow commuters. It is vital that all Britons stand united and show those who want to divide us, especially terrorists, that they will never succeed. The death of those innocent people who died in the July 7 bombings has had the opposite effect to what the bombers intended; it has brought our communities together. Nic Careem London

In Over Their Heads TIME's notebook item on the torrential rains and flooding in Bombay [Aug. 8] realistically portrayed the woeful state that India finds itself in as it tries to compete with China. Politicians in India are constantly asserting their resolve to put Bombay on a par with Shanghai, without even giving a thought to reality. The fact that a day's rainfall can paralyze the economic hub of India speaks volumes about the complete lack of basic infrastructure and disaster-management techniques in this country. The government machinery was totally overwhelmed by the floods and started providing relief only after the hapless residents resorted to massive street protests. Now we find the bureaucrats playing a blame game. Have these officials given a thought to improving the city's infrastructure and preventing such calamities in the future? If we can build nuclear weapons and launch satellites, why can't we have efficient services and give our citizens better amenities? Abhijit Gatade Bombay

Bigger Is ... Bigger Abstract expressionist artist Al Held [MILESTONES, Aug. 8] was known for his gigantic geometric paintings. In a July 14, 1967 review, TIME described an exhibit of huge works and this gigantic-art trend:

"Ever since Jackson Pollock and the first abstract expressionists began enlarging their canvases back in the late 1940s, American paintings have been getting bigger and bigger. To show the lengths—and heights—that artists are going to nowadays, Manhattan's Jewish Museum this week put on display 23 mural-size paintings ... The largest, Al Held's Greek Garden, is a breathtaking panorama of cabalistic circles, squares and triangles that measures 12 ft. [3.5 m] high—and 56 ft. [17 m] long. The museum's curator, Kynaston McShine, who selected the paintings, unpretentiously bills his exhibit as an 'airy, informal, summer exhibition of big, beautiful paintings' ... WHY DO THE ARTISTS LOVE BIG CANVASES? 'Largeness,' McShine answers, 'is part of the American aesthetic. The large painting is generally more of a challenge than a small one' ... To Al Held, who worked on Greek Garden for two years, bigness 'gives me the scale that I'm looking for, the presence that I want. I'm not trying to make an equation that size equals quality, but to me bigness just means I've got a bigger playground, both in the real and the metaphysical sense.'"