Blessed are the peacemakers. (you may be right).

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK TOM MCGRATH FOR HIS INSIGHTS in the November Examined Life, "What do you do with such paint" As I come to the end of 20 years of service as a United States Marine, I have seen up close the results of the senseless cycle of hate McGrath speaks of. It has always amazed me and a lot of my fellow Marines how our nation's lack of follow-through in many small nations has exactly the opposite effect of what we were sent in to accomplish.

While I do believe in job security, this has become ridiculous in recent years. We are sent in to restore order and provide "hope" for the best of reasons, but as soon as we backload on our ships, we can almost watch it slide back into chaos before we leave the surf zone.

We must look at providing a sustainable period of "peace" within these nations, or we will just provide breeding grounds for hopelessness, despair, anger, and hate. Without hope, these people will lash out, and quite frankly it is no more than any one of us would do faced with the same choices and in the same unbelievable conditions.

John O'Brien
via e-mail

Bingo! Finally, an opinion on the tragedy that acknowledges that there might possibly be some real, rational reasons why these Islamic fundamentalists hate us enough to do such despicable acts. I have been quite surprised at the lack of awareness and lack of response of various supposedly knowledgeable experts both in the government and the media to the question: "Why would anyone want to do this to us?"

With thousands of people starving each day, it is easy to demonize America and its allies who live in the lap of luxury in comparison with the rest of the world. Our policies, trade agreements, treaties, and aid packages all serve to preserve the status quo--that is, to keep us and our allies on top and the rest of the world on the bottom.

Whether we are the culprits through our sanctions, or the culpable party is the Iraqi government by steering food aid to its military and privileged classes is a matter for debate. But even that is a moot point when we won't even acknowledge the dark side to some of our actions and listen to the grievances of the poor.

I condemn those who committed the cowardly acts of terror on Sept. 11,2001. But I suspect that there are some very life-and-death reasons underlying their actions (like Israeli missile attacks on villagers or starving families in the midst of opulent excess).

We must begin to make a commitment to justice and the rights of all human beings--not just those of Americans. As long as you have the very, very poor living in the shadow of the very, very rich, it will be easy for someone like Bin Laden to exploit the anger people feel when confronted with such contrasts.

Matt Furjanic
via e-mail

I have watched the events of September 11 unfold north of your border here in Canada. Indeed, our own lives here in St. John's, Newfoundland were impacted in a small way when several dozen planes destined for the U.S. were diverted and had to land at our local airport. We found ourselves called upon to provide hospitality for 5,500 weary, dazed, and worried travelers.

This experience itself has changed the lives of many here in our small city--people were called out of themselves and their own daily concerns, called to welcome the stranger and, in some cases I suppose, the widow and the orphan.

I think McGrath's editorial puts into words what some Christians feel but are reluctant to speak as they listen to the rhetoric of vengeance and violence. I find the gospel perspective on nonviolence is so necessary at this time in our history. Jesus Christ invites us to live a redemptive love that leads to transforming the enemy into a friend.

Allan Farrell
St. John's, Newfoundland

I just want to say that some of us who are not Catholics totally agree with McGrath. "You have heard it said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' but I say to you.... "It isn't always easy to turn the other cheek, to think through and pass our tendency to want vengeance but thousands of years of vengeance in the Middle East and beyond should teach us that vengeance does not work.

Also, it is time for Americans to make some attempt to understand our own complicity, though passive as individuals in most cases, in what happened within our own border.

Rev. J. Michael Mansfield
Fairdale, Ky.

McGrath has a wonderful way of expressing holy and good thoughts. I resonate with his editorial.

In different words I said similar thoughts in my homily the other evening at our Mass for the victims of this tragedy and for our nation. I believe we all need to go to our heart of hearts, that inner core of being, and rid the evil, sin, and darkness that is found there so that light and God's grace may have room to reside. Then we can share that with each other.

Father Richard Siefer
DuBois, Pa.