The Athens NEWS: Twice weekly alternative

* "Thou shall not kill anybody -- friend, neighbor or enemy -- for violence is counter-productive to my mission." -- Jesus.

* If President Bush regards Jesus as his favorite political philosopher, why are we at war (with civilian casualities) in Iraq? (Where in the world is Osama bin Laden? Hint: He's not in Iraq.)

* President John F. Kennedy occasionally stayed at West Palm Beach, Fla., and the students at Conniston Junior High School used to see him driving a convertible or sailing a boat. As part of a "People to People" program, the students were making a film for a partner school in Greece, to show the Greek students what life in the United States was like, and so they decided to write a letter to the president asking him to appear in the film. Unfortunately, they received a polite no from one of the president's aides. Later, one of the students' mothers saw President Kennedy parking along a street, so she approached him and asked, "May I impose on you, Mr. President?" President Kennedy smiled and replied, "Go ahead. Impose." The student's mother then explained about the film and asked him to appear in it. This was the first that President Kennedy had heard about the film, and although his schedule, of course, was extremely tight and he was leaving West Palm Beach within the hour, he said that if the students and the film equipment could be at the airport in an hour, he would be happy to appear in the students' film. Everything worked out well, the film was made, and the mother marveled about President Kennedy, "I just can't get over his kindness in doing it -- and I'm a Republican!"

* Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved many Jews during the Holocaust by issuing Swedish passports to them. The Nazis respected these passports because Sweden was a neutral country, and the Nazis wished for it not to join the side of the Allies. Once, Mr. Wallenberg saw many Jews being loaded onto a train to be taken to a death camp. He stopped, announced who he was, then asked the Jews whether they had Swedish passports. Jews waved papers at him, and Mr. Wallenberg told them that since they were under the protection of the Royal Swedish Legation in Budapest, they could leave the train station. No matter what kind of papers the Jews waved at him, Mr. Wallenberg pretended that the papers were passports, even if they were actually driver's licenses, deportation papers, or eyeglass prescriptions. By doing this, Mr. Wallenberg saved the lives of 300 Jews that day.

* In Germany, Ilse Baumgart, a Jew, worked for the German air force, but in an unguarded moment, she let a coworker discover how she felt about Adolf Hitler. During her rest break, the coworker woke her up from a nap to tell her about an assassination attempt against Hitler. Only half awake, she asked, "Is the pig dead?" Her coworker immediately informed their boss what she had said. The boss met with her, said he was going to have her arrested, then said he was leaving for 15 minutes. Realizing that he was deliberately giving her a chance to escape, she did. Fortunately, she found a rescuer, Gitta Bauer, who took her into her home and helped her survive the war.

* While climbing Mount Everett, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa climbing expert Tenzing Norgay were roped together. At one point, Mr. Hillary made a leap, landing on an ice block. Unfortunately, the ice block broke off and started falling -- but Mr. Norgay was able to save Mr. Hillary's life with some fast rope work. In camp, Mr. Hillary told the other explorers, "Without Tenzing, I would have been finished today." A few weeks afterward, on May 29, 1953, at 11:30 a.m., they became the first two men to successfully climb to the top of Mount Everest.

* As a young man, Guglielmo Marconi spent his time working on the development of wireless telegraphy, despite the opinion of his father that he was a freeloader. Fortunately, he had the support of his mother and was able to develop the technology that became radio. It's interesting to note that a good deed helped Mr. Marconi in his quest to develop wireless telegraphy. A neighbor was going blind, so Mr. Marconi used to read to him. To show his gratitude, the neighbor taught him Morse code. In 1909, Mr. Marconi won the Nobel Prize for Physics.

* Patrick Henry was raised as an Anglican (a member of the Church of England), but he sometimes attended Presbyterian churches in Virginia, where he heard sermons about the meaning of liberty. From 1768-1776, more than 40 Baptist preachers were persecuted by being whipped, fined and jailed (to avoid this kind of violence, we have separation of church and state), but Mr. Henry helped them. He represented the Baptist preachers in court, and he often paid their fines with his own money. As an attorney, he also helped Baptist preachers get the right to preach to Baptist soldiers in the Revolutionary Army.

* During the Great Depression, many people helped their neighbors out. In Omaha, Neb., the family of Ora Glass, like other families, was short of money. Since he had small children, he needed milk, although he had no money to pay for it. However, his children never lacked for milk. The milkman talked to the milk company, got permission to continue the milk deliveries, then told Mr. Glass, "You need this, you've always paid, and that's the way it's gonna be."

* Before skating in highly competitive events such as the national or world championships, young figure skater Tara Lipinski and her mother used to visit a children's hospital. In addition to being a good deed, the visit served to put the competition in perspective. Tara said, "It brings us back to reality. You really begin to think that life revolves around landing a triple Lutz. You forget there is a world out there, and people are living and dying."