To the Editor:

The fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing saddens me even more when I realize that in the 1,800 days since that tragedy, literally millions of people have "violated" 8-year-old victim Martin Richard's plaintive poster plea calling for "No more hurting people.....peace."

These millions of "hurters" include Bashar al-Assad, terrorists, school shooters, other mass murderers, rapists, molesters, drunk and distracted drivers, and way too many other hurtful individuals and groups to list here. Sadly, Martin was murdered just four months after 20 6- and 7-year-olds were slaughtered in Newtown. I'm sure Martin is a terrific "big brother" to his 20 younger Sandy Hook angel friends, and I hope they are all blissfully unaware of how mankind continues to fall short of his idealistic wish - which it's still not too late to fulfill.

Richard Siegelman

108 Morton Boulevard, Plainview, N.Y.         April 17, 2018