Ah yes, the dark shadow side versus the light side of American life. I was lying in bed last night thinking of all the enormous military ships now cruising towards the Middle East. Huge targets accumulating for a battle. All the young naive, sweet, cute, handsome and probably in-love sailors with hearts left behind steaming off to an unknown Bush/Bush/Cheney agenda, (if they truthfully have one beyond looking Presidential and keeping the ratings up.)...all the bombers flying through the dark night to their "hidden" airstrips, all the people everywhere frightened of the potential random acts of violence that are about to happen. Then I remembered Project Hope. Whatever happened to that side of the American Psyche? That beautiful white hospital ship that travelled all over the world helping people in the name of humanity, funded by people like you and me, and recognized as the good that is also America. The side that was proudly and publicly shown in the Kennedy era, the Great Society era of Johnson, the strong environmental side of Nixon for goodness sake, the side that my mother joined and then sent letters, gifts and money to an impoverished young Korean girl named Meung Soo Lee for probably 10 years.... I still remember the letters and hand made silk things she would send us along with her school reports... The side of America that recognized that The New Deal was absolutely required, that the rebuilding of Japan and Europe after World War II was for the good of all.... And every penny came back to us in so many many ways, and the critics so utterly wrong. What if we took that 20 billion (that so instantly materialized!) and poured it into health facilities, schools, food production, and infrastructure rebuilding in Pakistan, Palestine, Iran and Iraq to name a few? Afganistan is totally destroyed thanks to their own wars with Russia and themselves... they have more planted landmines than any country in the world. What if we decided to remove all the mines and rebuild everyone's homes? What if we said to the world we will not sink to terrorism. Demonstrating Harvard students are now saying that organized terrorism is now being called war? What if we said we now realize the error of our military attacks and our own brand of terrorism upon those countries (be they direct or through subsidiaries) and publicly changed our policies. What could the terrorists do with that? Do our politicians have the courage to do that? More importantly, do we have the courage to DEMAND that? What if we as citizens of the free world took it upon ourselves to match dollar for dollar the war machine's efforts to destroy other people's lives for profit and political expediency? Very quickly the war mongers would become shamed into disgrace. Imagine 20 billion dollars pledged by average Americans and others for humanitarian purposes for all the targeted countries. That is how the human race finally wins this battle against endless stupid War - using the tools of the heart - humility, compassion, and generosity. The heart is far stronger than any battleship or bomber. War is too easy to start, too easy to whip people up with their old tired stories of past hatreds, and too hard to end once the vipers have slithered out of their boxes. Peace requires far more bravery and faith. It is a continual conscious act that can be learned and practiced by us all every day. Peace is an action word. We need to start today. Now. Where can I donate $500? I am serious. Eric Wallen