Let Peace

Begin With Us

To the Editor:

A small town in Maine called a town meeting last week to discuss the war in Iraq and decided to send a message to President Bush, Congress, et al to act to end the war and bring home our troops “as soon as possible.” Isn’t it about time for “the people” to try to regain a foothold in this democracy “of the people, for the people and by the people?” A quiet, nonpolitical request that someone in Washington please listen to the people.

We can’t solve the problem of mass killings in Iraq, but we can try to prevent the sadness of violent warfare that results in so many innocents and troops being blown apart. So many maimed and killed — so many of our National Guard and their families being in a fight they never knew they had to participate in. Some going back for a second or third time. The odds of life changing rapidly grow.

When our troops were in Vietnam and our military leadership decided we had to bomb and burn Cambodia, the American people reacted strongly — grassroots groups heard chanting “LBJ, LBJ, how many boys did you kill today” and buttons stating “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber” were worn. Small efforts, but it was not considered disloyal to protest; enough was enough.

At that time, many Newtowners gathered in Sandy Hook and walked to the Edmond Town Hall where we had a vital discussion; we were joined by many from homes along Church Hill Road. We were afraid our troops would spend years bombing and burning.

Surely we didn’t represent the whole nation, but we established with our elected officials, local and national, a voice in the wilderness — but a voice! Our voices.

Can we sustain the collapse of our future without being heard? We must make it personal to each and every one of us to think peace is possible — maybe not probable — but we must not allow the redeployment of the troops, whether in Iran, or Israel or any other of conflict. Let us use work, diplomacy, and negotiation to seek peaceful solutions, not bombing and burning.

I was born after World War I and before World Ware II (an all-out war for the entire world). The Korean War swept away friends and relatives, and the Vietnam years and ensuing draft left emotions raw; more relatives and friends were directly involved.

There must be other ways to maintain peace than to wage war. Now that the nuclear bomb is available to others, we should be well aware of the standoff position in which we now find ourselves. We are not the only ones that can release the utmost fury of retaliation. It won’t be pretty.

Let there be peace on earth; and let it begin with us.

Betty Lou B. Osborne

8 Zoar Road, Sandy Hook                                                 June 20, 2007