Enormity of US Military impedes nuclear abolition

 (Essay 27)
Bernard Lown, MD

Among antinuclear activists there is a sense of jubilant expectation that at last a demonic class of genocidal weapons will soon be consigned to the junk heap of history. Left behind will be a shudder of memory of how close humans came to an abyss of self-extinction. Outlawing the nuclear genie will not rebottle it. The potential nuclear nightmare will need to be secured everlastingly against perverse miscreants. Nonetheless, the removal of nuclear weapons from military stockpiles will be a mighty civilizing step for humankind.

Whence the current optimism? It arises because some most unexpected voices are joining the antinuclear fray. The new allies are former leading power brokers of the national security establishment. They were among the major architects of the nuclear age who in prior times favored adding megatonnage to the already existing obscene overkill.

Wives, Yes; Husbands, No (Essay 26)

Bernard Lown, MD

The above title, instead of enlightening, mystifies. Is this some sort of reverse sexism or political correctness gone awry? Actually, it reflects a deep clinical truth that took me years to fathom. Wives know more about their husbands’ health problems than husbands know about their wives’ or even their own.

Many years ago I began to encourage husbands to make sure that their wives accompanied them on medical appointments. At times I was very insistent that the wife come along, and rarely I even indicated that a return visit would be postponed if the wife could not be present. Yet I cannot recall ever telling a married woman to bring her husband. I must confess that at the time I began this practice, I did not fully understand the basis for my insistence that wives be present.