Letter to the editor

For the past several days the world's focus has been on three disparate individuals, ranging from the prime minister of Israel to an Iraqi baby and a West Virginia miner. All three are undergoing a battle for their lives and all three are commanding the undivided attention of people from every part of the globe and every walk of life. You have to wonder why it is that in the midst of major loss of life in recent natural disasters and ongoing war in the middle-east, the fate of three people has come to be so important. Hundreds or even thousands of casualties tend to overwhelm our senses whereas the fate of an individual seems to bring home the reality of tragic loss. It is almost unbearably personal.

Whenever I reflect upon my days in the service during World War Two, I seldom think of the overall loss of life, but often my mind takes me back in memory to a few people that crossed my life and forever left their imprint in my heart. Maybe that's the only way we can get through the slings and arrows. I know we all wish the three who are in jeopardy survive their ordeal and give us reason to hope that it starts a trend.
George Morin
Auburn