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REAL STORY page 34
ject that affects the constitution-
al underpinnings of our nation
and the moral sensibilities of our
children. Unfortunately, your ar-
ticle missed the point entirely.
This letter is in response to Dorie
Shwedel's letter to the editor on
April 11 ("Our Children Deserve
the Best").
It is very fortunate that Mrs.
Shwedel was able to choose to
sacrifice her career to stay home
with her children. My question is
what, in fact, did she choose to
sacrifice?
From her address, I can as-
sume that Mrs. Shwedel lives in
a comfortable home, only a few
miles from synagogues, the Jew-
ish Community Center, a kosher
butcher and other businesses
that cater to the Jewish commu-
nity.
Many women in the Jewish
community work in order to pro-
vide a home for their children in
a safe neighborhood with good
schools and where they have con-
tact with other Jewish children
and can attend synagogue with-
in a reasonable distance from
their homes. Unfortunately, to
provide these things for our chil-
dren, many of us need to have
two-career families; and many of
us can't afford $45-$60 a day per
child for day care (with the day
care costing more per day of at-
tendance during months the JCC
is closed for holidays).
It is sad that the Jewish Com-
munity Center Child Develop-
ment Center will no longer be
able to serve much of the com-
munity due to the price increase.
There are many day-care centers
that provide trained staff and
healthful food in a nurturing en-
vironment that, I am sure, would
allow the parents to send kosher
lunches with their children.
These day-care centers have the
same staff ratio except for the un-
der-18-month-olds.
Let's also not forget that work-
ing Jewish parents are Jewish
parents, too; and they can take
their children to their syna-
gogues; they can observe the Sab-
bath and perform mitzvot. I
assume that even Mrs. Shwedel
would agree that this is a better
alternative to an orphanage.
These are responsible parents
who are making realistic choices
and who are not "subcontracting"
their responsibility. It's time we
stop trying to make good people
feel guilty because they have to
make realistic choices.
My role as an independent con-
tractor with the Amway Corp.
over the last few years has been
an amazing journey. It has of-
fered my family an opportunity
to enter the business world with
little time or financial investment
and unlimited potential. It has
offered an opportunity to learn
and redefine leadership and peo-
ple skills that sadly are not rou-
tinely taught elsewhere. It has
offered an opportunity to make
friends and gain recognition.
My Amway business, howev-
er, has placed me in the ultimate
melting pot. My business has
spread to whites, blacks, Chris-
tians, Muslims and Hindus.
The 750,000 U.S. Amway dis-
tributors represent a cross-sec-
tion of a society that is
predominantly Christian. My
business has led me to work of-
ten with Christians. The record
should be set straight. My appli-
cation form did not inquire as to
my age, sex, religion or political
preferences.
My meetings at Amway head-
quarters have been free of any
Christian statements. The cor-
poration has taken the stance
from day one that it is a business
for all people and distributors
from all backgrounds.
Richard DeVos, co-founder of
Amway, was the fist recipient of
the Max Fisher Humanitarian
Award last year.
The unique feature of devel-
oping a successful Amway busi-
ness, however, is that we are all
self-employed distributors and
not corporate employees. There
is a freedom of speech afforded
independent distributors that
could be erroneously miscon-
strued as corporate Statements.
They are not.
Indeed, the business has af-
forded me an opportunity to
share with many, often for the
first time, a chance to work side
by side, Jew and gentile. When a
major meeting was scheduled on
the second Passover seder by a
Christian distributor, it was
changed to another night with an
apology. Our Christian business
leaders routinely keep calendars
of all Jewish holidays to avoid
conflicts.
I have grown stronger in my
own Jewish faith through my
Amway experience. It has led me
to study the differences between
Judaism and Christianity more
thoroughly.
If we all duplicated the in-
tegrity, love of mankind and work
ethic of the Amway leadership, I
know much good would result in
this country for Jews and Chris-
tians alike.
Diane Berman
West Bloomfield
Joel Kahn
West Bloomfield
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President, Center for Jewish
and Christian Values
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