Back in the sixties when I came of age, my generation was talking about making love, not war. My brother had a bumper sticker on his car back then which said, “War is not safe for children and other living things.” I also remember President Carter reaching out and bringing about a difficult peace agreement with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. And then too, there were all the nuclear war deterrence treaties and the amazing conversations between Reagan and Gorbachev.

So I ask, where are the peacemakers now? Thousands are dying in Ukraine and Russia, let alone in the Middle East. And what about all the suffering vulnerable children and elderly and wrecked lives in Gaza? Do we not care? At the same time we are manufacturing and selling huge amounts of arms all over the world, let alone what we give to Ukraine and Israel. Meanwhile, while the presidential candidates debate abortion, immigration, and the environment, neither of them has a stated goal of working to negotiate peace. And all the while the threat of nuclear war looms all the larger. To quote Joni Mitchell, “They won’t give peace a chance.”

William Judd

Concord