War touches all

While my heart goes out to the Kahlor family for the trauma they are suffering, at the same time I am astounded when intelligent people are willing to send children to war and then are shocked into critical evaluation of that war only when its devastation touches them personally. Did they think the bullets and bombs would only kill and maim the enemy, while all the “good guys” would march home victorious?

It is easy to confuse saber-rattling with patriotism. But logical and sober thinking should tell us that the only way to ensure the health and safety of our children and other innocents is to pursue peaceful and nonviolent solutions to our conflicts, even when the emotional call to vanquish an enemy seems the easier or more righteous path.

It shouldn’t take a catastrophic injury or the death of a loved one, or of anyone else, for us to know that war is hell.

Art Verity

Van Nuys