Are There Any Wise People Anymore?

Last week my letter was printed in my Florida Newspaper. I thought it was one of my best. It was just a few sentences about how killing Libyans with bombs from airplanes was using terrorist tactics. My letter ended with the words: "Blessed are the Peacemakers. They are not us."

It was the only letter among the seven they printed that day about the Libyan bombing episode which had that point of view. It is the ONLY letter that has been printed in that paper which had that point of view.

I have gray hair, two grand-children, and a great many questions about my fellow man. What appears to me to be common sense is not the common sense of my fellow Americans. To see the hatred on the faces of raging mobs of Iranian and Libyan men on television and in the papers is to make me ask "why?" I truly don't know if my country deserves this condemnation. It seems sensible to me to try to change those conditions and situations which brought forth that hatred and that need for revenge on the part of those people whose lives are so much different from my own. We need so desperately to begin to understand how Moslems feel offended or insulted. We need to understand how Arab men save face or lose face. We need to have a president who is knowledgeable enough not to call a Moslem leader a dog. It would probably even be helpful if we could manage not to kill and injure that leader's children.

How can I, a little old lady in Florida, stir up some support for the peaceful resolution of conflict? Where are the wise people now that we need them? Are there any wise people anymore? Help!

KATIE BROWN

LUTZ, FLORIDA