Dear Editor:
I enjoyed your War Memorial rededication issue that memorialized the dedication of the Veterans Memorial Building. It has always fascinated me to read about everyday life in my community of bygone times.
Especially interesting was the “Yeggman” in Mr. Palmtag’s home and the subsequent fainting of Mrs. Palmtag after phoning the police. Nowadays, we have 6-year-olds calmly phoning 911.
Seriously though, I am wondering if anyone had the feelings that I did of turning page after page to read about another war, and another war. Especially is this disheartening after the carnage of World War I, which was supposed to be the war to end all war. It does seems to me that we are going down the wrong fork in the road.
To read the name of Joe Borovich on the memorial in front of the building has always tweaked my heart because I knew his family, his sister is still among us, and his tragic death on the Arizona. Look at all the other names on that plaque. They represent equal unending heartbreak.
It seems to me that a truly fitting memorial to our departed veterans would not be the military parades and flybys, nor the drum beating and bugle calls, but to dedicate this memorial to peace. I don’t mean the convulsive peace existing between wars that mask war preparations, but a true peace that regards war as a barbaric method of dispute solving.
We already teach peace in our schools. It is called conflict resolution. Everyone loves and honors Mother Teresa. Besides her and Ghandi. we have our own peace heroes; Jimmy recently received the Nobel Peace Prize, and Martin Luther King Jr. peacefully, non-violently gained civil rights for African Americans.
My thoughts on this special Free Lance issue memorializing war veterans is to truly relegate war to history and close the book, and in this way to truly make what our sons died for worth the unspeakable, irreplaceable sacrifice of their precious lives.
Mary T. Zanger
Hollister
