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“You Would Do Better Consulting Awake!”

THAT is what Pasquale, a young Witness of Jehovah who was taking a college course in Bari, Italy, was told when he asked his psychology teacher for some notes that she had on drug addiction. Yet, in the past this teacher had shown prejudice toward Jehovah’s Witnesses. What had caused her attitude to change?

Pasquale explained: “At the end of a lesson, the teacher asked her students for help in finding material on child abuse, the subject on which she was preparing a postgraduate thesis. I remembered a few issues of Awake! that dealt with this and related subjects, such as ‘Sex Education—Who Should Give It?’ (February 22, 1992). Aware of my teacher’s prejudice toward the Witnesses, however, I asked a classmate to give her the magazines.”

Pasquale describes what happened when, a few days later, he asked his teacher about obtaining the notes he wanted on drug addiction: “She did not reply right away. Rather, she stood up and came to shake my hand. She said that she had not wanted to accept Jehovah’s Witnesses’ magazines before because she considered them too simple and infantile. After she read them, though, she changed her mind. She said that she found the contents of the magazines to be most useful from a social point of view. She said that she was going to include points from Awake! in her thesis.”

What about Pasquale’s request for notes on drug addiction? “I’ll give them to you very willingly,” she responded, “but you would do better consulting Awake! It is a magazine that deals with worthwhile subjects, and it is useful, even at the university level.”

Awake! considers current problems and strives to give practical aid to those facing big or small challenges in everyday life. If you would like to know what help the Bible can provide, contact Jehovah’s Witnesses, who distribute Awake!, or write to the appropriate address listed on page 5.