To the Editor:

Thanks for the kind words you have for me and our peace vigilers in last week’s issue (“A reminder of the inhumanity that is war,” Jan. 18 Smoky Mountain News). However, it was not I standing alone in the rain. If it was a man, it was either Bob Peebles or Tony Scardaci. If it was a woman it was either Linda McFarland, Jane Harrison, or Carole Larivee. If we are all present we make seven, including my wife Carol, and as you say, we — and others who have come and gone through the years — have been there every Wednesday since before the start of “Shock and Awe” in 2003.

But thanks even more for pointing up the brutality, insanity, and futility of war and violence as means of resolving disputes, whether personal or national. Some of our signs read: “War Is Not the Answer,” “Build Bridges Not Bombs,” and “How Is the War Economy Working for You?”

The Iraq and Afghanistanwars are simply destroying lives, economies (including ours), environments, and hopes — with nothing substantial to show for it. We firmly believe our weekly vigil, and editorials like yours, are needed to wake people up to the devastating effects of war on our world, our character and image as a nation, and our children’s future.

Doug Wingeier

Haywood County