Letters to the editor
October, 2005
Peace Building
Is He Not Our Brother
Peace Building
As a young woman, I admired our military and believed those who served were defenders of truth and justice. My own father served during World War II. He was proud of his service and so was I. Today I am not proud that we send our sons and daughters to kill and be killed; and even worse, to be traumatized by the horrible things they will see and do while at war. While it may be gratifying that young people today are also willing to sacrifice for this country, why can’t they spread democracy in some other way? If the United States is such an advanced civilization, why have we not found an alternative to war?
Lest this idea be scorned as impractical one only needs to read the words of former To President Dwight D Eisenhower, “ Each gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed and those who are cold and are not clothed.”
One person can have the power to put a face on an idea. If women of the world joined together in the interest of peace, they could influence the leaders of various nations to attempt alternatives to war. There are in fact no less than a dozen women’s organizations attempting to do just that.
It is time for all women’s groups to come together under one coalition and use their strength in the cause of peace. After all if women can give birth to babies, why can’t they give birth to the concept of peace building?
Joette Storm
Is He Not Our Brother
We need to be more aware of and compassionate to people with mental illnesses.
I know a man with a ready smile and a gentle soul. However, to others his demeanor may seem scary and bizarre. When he was young he was an honor roll student and a basketball star at a local high school, and had dreams of taking his talents further. He wanted to have a family, settle down and live out the rest of his life in a traditional American way.
This was all before he was hit with a chronic mental disorder called schizophrenia. He is not crazy. He has a disease in his brain, just as if you or somebody you know may have heart disease or arthritis.
If he could have chosen his destination I’m sure it would not have been one full of paranoid delusions and hallucinations, or of homelessness in between stays at the psychiatric hospital. Nor would he have chosen to walk around flapping his arms ranting about conspiracies or wear a winter coat on a hot summer day.
This man, my friend, deserves as all people do to be treated with the utmost dignity and respect.
Please don’t fear him, give a smile, say hello, learn his name and embrace the fact you’ve just met a special and unique human being. For is he not our brother in this bizarre and sometimes scary world?
Kathy Tutko