ADOPTION page 19
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`The children are wonderful to-
gether," said Mrs. Meisner, a
graphic designer who works part
time from her home, where she
can stay close to her daughter
and son.
The Meisners, who have main-
tained a close relationship with
Nicole's birth mother, believe
they have grown to appreciate
each day more than they ever did
before.
"While Nicole's young enough,
the birth mother can be a friend,"
Mr. Meisner said. "We talk to her
once or twice a week, and we're
going to be with the birth moth-
er and her family for a couple of
days soon so they can see the
baby.
"Someday we'll tell Nicole that
she was adopted. We'll go
through all the proper profes-
sional counseling on how to do
it and when to do it.
"I think adoption is one of the
most noble things that can be
done," Mr. Meisner said, "not by
the adoptive parents but by the
birth parents. I think when
there's a birth mother like the one
we had who realizes it's going to
be better for the child in the long
run and is willing to make the
sacrifice, it's very inspirational.
"I also think adopting is a won-
derful thing to do. There has been
so much bad publicity, and I hope
people don't get discouraged. We
would adopt again.
"I've learned that you don't
take anything for granted. You
don't take your health for grant-
ed. You don't take your happiness
for granted. You don't take your
family for granted." ❑
LC/ SIFLIUM
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Flight From
Responsibility
RABBI DAVID WOLPE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH TIMES
nyone who believes our
society's rhetoric about
concern for children
should test it by taking a
plane ride.
As a lecturer, I am a frequent
plane traveler. Like most busi-
ness travelers, a flight is not only
a necessity, but an opportunity.
I use the quiet of the plane to dis-
patch the backlog of magazines
and books stuffed into my bag.
But now and then I
put on the head-
phones or just
glance up at the
movie. What I
see there re-
minds me that we dismiss our
concern about kids when their
needs contradict our own.
In the past year I have been
on planes showing movies like
"Indecent Proposal" and "Clear
and Present Danger." In both
cases, children on the flight sat
watching a screen filled with vi-
olent and sexually explicit im-
ages. On a plane, no one can
change the channel.
"Clear and Present Danger"
is a very exciting movie. It is
also a pageant of human beings
blown up, shot up, destroyed
and dismembered. There is a
A
Rabbi David Wolpe teaches at the
University of Judaism in Los
Angeles. He is the author of
"Teaching your Children about
God" (Harper Collins).
serious question of imposing
unrelenting visions of carnage
on adults who may be squea-
mish or simply reluctant.
But what about children, who of-
ten travel unaccompanied?
Is it so important that we get
the newest and finest enter-
tainment on the plane, because
otherwise we cannot manage
the three, five or 10 hours of
calm? Would the airline indus-
try take a big hit if the movies it
screened on flights were rated
PG?
Airlines are private compa-
nies, but the space on a plane is
a quasi-public domain. The anal-
ogy to smoking is apt: When the
FAA outlawed smoking on
flights of five hours or less, it was
understood that smoking can be
damaging, or perhaps simply an-
noying, to others, and there is
nowhere else to go.
That smoking was outlawed
but violence rages is sympto-
matic of our mania for physical
health and neglect of psychic
and spiritual health. I would
not want a child to have to
breathe someone else's smoke
for five hours. Is it better to have
children witness a sustained