Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff
As the Psychologist Sees You
Southwestern Jewish Press, November 15, 1956, Page 7
By Irving R. Stone, Psychological Consultant
Mental Retardation– As this issue comes from the presses, and if we are the ordinary individuals who are exposed to the radio, television, billboards, and the newspapers, we shall become aware that we are in the midst of another of those specially designated weeks. This one is National Mentally Retarded Children’s Week, an annual event for the past three years.
It is very fitting that special attention be given to the problem of mental retardation for the effects are far more serious and wide-spread than most people realize. Figures show that about four percent of the population is mentally retarded. Put in another way, about every twelve minutes a new baby will be born who is mentally retarded. You will note that this is called a condition rather than a disease for it represents a manner of living and behaving rather than of health.
There are about seventy known reasons for mental retardation but how to prevent most of the causes has not become known as yet. It can happen in any family, rich or poor, regardless of station in life, intellectual position of the parents, or their educational attainment. Much research is needed on this condition for it is only recently that we have given it the attention which it deserves.
Like the normal child, these youngsters need acceptance, attention, and affection. Too often they are shunned by society, often considered in the category of freaks or threats, and are kept from playing with other children by misinformed and misguided parents. They usually can learn, though their attainment will not reach the heights of the normal child and it takes them much longer to absorb even the barest of information. At times, too, their control of their emotions is not as good as the normal child and for this reason they may get into difficulties or respond too directly to emotional stimuli. They need greater protection or else they can be exploited by designing persons.
On a national scale there is an organization devoted to the spread of information about the retarded and the development of research methods for ways in which to alleviate or prevent the condition. Locally, parents have organized to discuss their mutual problems, to enlist greater acceptance by their neighbors, and to establish classes for the training of their handicapped children. There is in San Diego, for example, the Child Development Center, located in Mission Valley, and sponsored by the San Diego Assn. for Retarded Children. The organization welcomes as visitors and friends those who are interested in the problem of mental retardation, even though not a parent of one of thee children themselves.
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-But-What Does He Do?
Southwestern Jewish Press, November 15, 1956, Page 8
An anonymous wag described the position of the executive in these graphic terms:
“As nearly everyone knows, an executive has practically nothing to do, except to decide what is to be done; to tell somebody to do it; to listen to reasons why it should not be done, why it should be done by someone else, or why it should be done in a different way; to follow up to see if the thing has been done; to discover that it has been done incorrectly; to point out how it should have been done; to conclude that as long as it has been done, it may as well be left where it is; to wonder if it is not time to get rid of a person who cannot do a thing right; to reflect that he probably h as a wife and a large family, and that certainly any successor would be just as bad, and maybe worse; to consider how much simpler and better the whole thing would have been done if one had done it oneself in the first place; to reflect sadly that one could have done it in 20 minutes, and, as things turned out, one has to spend two days to find out why it has taken three weeks for someone else to do it wrong.”
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Campaign Director To Visit Temple
Southwestern Jewish Press, November 15, 1956, Page 8
Joseph Richter, Western Regional Director for the Combined Campaign on behalf of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, is currently on a tour of affiliated congregations throughout the region.
His itinerary calls for meetings with rabbinic and lay leaders of Temple B’nai Israel of Sacramento on Nov. 14; Temple Beth Israel of San Diego, Nov. 15; Temple Beth Israel of Phoenix, Nov. 17, when he will also confer wiwth visiting lay and rabbinic leaders from Tucson’s Temple Emanu-El.
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(Taste the Borscht)
Southwestern Jewish Press, November 15, 1956, Page 8
For eighteen years Mr. Lipschitz had lunched at the same restaurant, and his order never varied: a plate of borscht and a package of soda crackers. The waiter never bothered even to ask what Mr. Lipschitz wanted: he put the soup and crackers in front of him, and not a word was spoken by either.
Suddenly, one noon Mr. Lipschitz called over the headwaiter and announced, “I want you should taste that borscht!” The headwaiter was nonplussed. “For eighteen years now we’ve served you that same borscht and never heard a peep out of you,” he protested. “Nevertheless,” insisted Mr. Lipschitz, “today I want you should taste it.”
The headwaiter shrugged his shoulders, leaned over to taste the borscht, then said, “But where’s your soup spoon?”
Mr. Lipschitz smiled triumphantly, lifted a finger, and said, “Ah HAH!” — Bennet Cerf
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Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. Our “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history. To find stories on specific individuals or organizations, type their names in our search box, located just above the masthead on the right hand side of the screen.