[Peace-discuss] letters

[Ricky Baldwin]

Folks,

I'd like to suggest a letter-writing idea, in addition to the letters to the 
editor we recently agreed to do every week.  I think once a month or so, a 
group of us could get together (at someone's house - mine, if necessary) and 
write letters to Congress, the President, etc. in support of initiatives we 
learn about related to what we're doing.

It won't sway them by itself, and it is no substitute for the other 
activities AWARE is organizing, but it might be something that some new 
people or others who need something to do could get into, even if they can't 
make some of the other things.

For now, here's a letter I wrote on an effort I'm sure we all feel is 
worthwhile...

Ricky

-----


The Hon. Peter Fitzgerald
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Sen. Fitzgerald:
	I am writing as a registered voter and a father, because I am deeply 
troubled by recent developments in this country and in the world.  Many 
innocent people were killed on Sept. 11, and in the aftermath many more 
innocent people have been killed in Afghanistan.  Thousands more in New York 
and Afghanistan have lost their jobs, homes, loved ones, health and mental 
well-being.
	I recently heard about a little boy in Afghanistan who has not walked or 
talked since the house next door was bombed.  This boy is six years old.  He 
has seizures and seems to have all but reverted to an infantile state.  When 
I hear about this boy, and many like him, I think about my own small sons 
and what it must feel like to see this happen to one’s beloved child.
	I understand that a woman named Rita Lasar, who lost a brother in the World 
Trade Center, recently visited Afghanistan and is currently lobbying 
Congress for compensation for the innocent victims of the US bombing there.  
I feel this is only right and just.
	Americans nationwide have mourned the deaths of Sept. 11, not only because 
many of those killed or otherwise wronged were Americans, but also because 
they were innocent civilians.  So, too, were tens of thousands of Afghani 
people – women, children, old men – whose lives have been ruined by the war. 
  They were caught in the crossfire, Senator, and they need our help.
	I urge you to give your strongest possible support to the compensation 
idea,  to so-sponsor the necessary legislation, and to urge your colleagues 
on both sides of the aisle to do likewise.  Human beings of compassion and 
morality cannot do otherwise.
	Thank you for your time and attention.  I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Ricky Baldwin


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