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Sir.—I am impressed and pleased with the focus of the Journal of the American Medical Association and AJDC on violence in American society. All of us who care for children and have grandchildren growing up in this society share your nostalgia for kinder, gentler days. My particular nostalgia is for traveling the New York City subways alone at 12 years of age, from my aunt's apartment in Brooklyn to the World's Fair.
We feel a sense of frustration and impotence. We have little influence on the television industry and the National Rifle Association. There is something, however, that we can do! If we cannot change television and regulate ownership of guns, maybe we can change people!
Our society condones and encourages corporal punishment of children as a disciplinary measure. Schools in half of our states teach that pain and the fear of pain are safe, useful, and productive methods