Letters

A World of Misplaced Worry

We fear massive terrorism plots, killer strains of bacteria in our food and lurking predators, but we seldom think of heart disease when we order fries. Thrill-seeking readers appreciated our analysis of the threats we face every day, which--surprise!--don't include a bungee jump or deadly snakes

Thanks for taking the time to point out what too often gets lost in today's climate of paranoia: people worry about the wrong things [Dec. 4]. I race motorcycles, so I often hear ill-informed proclamations about the danger I face. I contend that fast food and tobacco are much more likely to kill you than riding is. My father always said, "You can do safe things dangerously and dangerous things safely," and when you consider that nearly half of fatalities from motorcycle accidents involve alcohol, my odds improve. Add a helmet and other protective gear, and my odds are better still. But nothing can protect you from an unhealthful lifestyle. GREGOR HALENDA New York City

Now that newsworthy events can be broadcast instantly around the planet, it's easy to believe that we live in a particularly dangerous era. But I don't buy it. I stopped watching television, so I am not bothered by shampoo bombs on airplanes or strange bacteria in my spinach. The information age has lengthened the list of things to worry about. It seems the biggest worriers accept the evening news as absolute truth. MICHELLE SISSON Fair Oaks, Calif.

Jeffrey Kluger's piece was very interesting, telling and informative. But we should be careful to consider ratios of risk rather than absolute numbers. It may be true that airline travel is safer than car travel, but a fair comparison would be the number of deaths in relation to the number of people traveling in that mode. Obviously, the number of people riding in cars is overwhelmingly higher than the number who fly, so a straight number-of-deaths comparison is slightly misleading. KEVIN CRYDERMAN Rochester, N.Y.

Mad Cow Disease, bad spinach and terrorists don't have me worried. What really scares me is the decreased civility in U.S. culture. My car has become a target for other drivers on the road, just as my body has become a target for other people during the walk to the office. GREGORY A. RETTER Indianapolis, Ind.

Death by terrorism was hardly mentioned in TIME's discussion of causes of death. Clearly we need a well-funded war on heart disease and cancer far more than a war on terrorism. RICHARD WINCHELL Aurora, Ill.

At 88 years old, I have learned in my long marriage and even longer life that worrying is an exercise in futility and does not change a thing. I haven't worried since the Nazis arrested me in 1938 and shipped me off to a concentration camp. I had worried the night before. Afterward I decided that worrying is a waste of time and no help whatsoever. What will be will be. CHRIS A. BLUNT Sarasota, Fla.

You failed to address the enormous role the media have in influencing Americans' perception of risk. While a preventable ailment like heart disease kills about 700,000 Americans annually, consumers are bombarded with scary images of terrorism, school violence and pandemics without the benefit of a clear context or information about the absolute risk. We need a citizenry that takes the time to understand risk, but we also need media that refrain from preying on our emotions. BEN BLINK Eau Claire, Wis.

According to the statistics you cited, all deaths are related to an accident or a disease. Thanks a lot. Until I read the article, I was planning on a painless death in my sleep many years in the future. Now I have something to worry about. ROD LIBER Los Angeles

While not engaging in skydiving certainly greatly reduces the chance of dying in a skydiving accident, it does not bring the risk to zero, as one of your sources stated. One could still be so unfortunate as to be standing underneath a skydiver whose chute fails to open. LAURENCE MARK New York City

Game Plans for Gates

You outlined four possible choices that the new Secretary of Defense, Bob Gates, could pursue in Iraq [Dec. 4], but none included getting that country's neighbors involved. This narrow-minded arrogance, the presumption that we have all the answers, is exactly how the U.S. got to this point. It is time for the Administration to get other countries involved in finding a solution to the impossible situation the U.S. faces in Iraq. We might actually gain some goodwill, something we need in the Middle East. LORI SMITH Austin, Texas

Gates has no options. The U.S. had badly damaged both Iraq and itself, and it is time to bring the troops home. Readily available explosives, lethal light arms and portable rockets can give any group of determined insurgents and suicide bombers the tools to defeat a foreign army, no matter how militarily superior it may be. To change the world, we must lead by example and by helping, not by bullying with our armed forces. JOHN HILBERRY New York City

All the options for Iraq you cited assume the U.S. should continue supporting the current Iraqi government. That government cannot offer its citizens security and would fall quickly in the absence of U.S. guns and funds. How can you ride a dead horse? BENJAMIN DOORS Lombard, Ill.

The photo of six marines on the cusp of adulthood, seeking warmth from a small, crude fire in Iraq, reveals the callous incompetence of the Bush Administration. While President George W. Bush and new Secretary of Defense Gates ponder which "stay the course" strategy they should select for the war in Iraq, these young men may live only slightly longer than their fire. When a President declares war, he should have the courage to fight it. Bush's cowardly refusal to reinstate the draft and put more boots on the ground has thrown Iraq into a civil war. I pray Gates has the courage to admit defeat and bring our troops home. HELEN TACKETT Fullerton, Calif.

I appeal to the people of Iraq to stop all violence and support their elected government. Peace would obviously benefit the entire country in innumerable ways, but perhaps most important, it would make a U.S. military withdrawal politically possible. American leaders are paralyzed by indecision and political insecurity, and only peace in Iraq will let them off the hook and open the way for troop withdrawal. I cannot fully understand the rivalry and enmity among the people of Iraq. But the religious and ethnic factions need to learn to live together in peace, or they will live in fear and danger perpetually. BRIAN SCHILL Spring Branch, Texas

Facing the Enemy

In reporting on warlord Abu Deraa [Dec. 4], TIME has once again given in to the urge to attach a name and a face to the enemy in Iraq, thus raising the illusory hope that the elimination of one key figure will solve whatever it is that is fueling the violence. But it didn't work with al-Zarqawi and won't with Abu Deraa because it's not about one man or even one organization. It's about the disintegration of a society in the aftermath of an unprovoked invasion and occupation. It's about us. JOHN HUBERS Chicago

Time for a Family Chat

RE Joe Klein's "What Daddy Couldn't Say" [Dec. 4]: There appears to be an elephant in the living room of the Bush household. When Daddy can't discuss Iraq with his son because the son is in denial and Daddy doesn't want the son to feel grief, that's grave dysfunction. The only solution is intervention, by the son's immediate family and our elected representatives. Please, Daddy Bush, have that talk with your son. MARIANNE ELLIS Sacramento, Calif.

I can't help wondering what mommy can't say about a lot of things. It must be difficult--nay, painful--for this mum to keep mum, more than we'll ever know. Clare Parsons Weaver Manchester, Mass.

Can the U.S. Talk with Iran?

Walter Isaacson argued cogently for dialogue with Iran about stabilizing Iraq and then sabotaged his valid arguments by name calling [Dec. 4]. Does it promote fruitful dialogue to call Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "mad" and declare that he sounds "like a lunatic"? Has Ahmadinejad done anything remotely as mad and lunatic as invading and occupying Iraq or bombing Lebanon? Demonizing and name calling are what have got us into this horrific mess in the Middle East. CARL J. EKBERG Purgitsville, W.Va.

Even Isaacson admits that "Direct talks with Iran will not persuade it to abandon its nuclear dreams right away." Then why should we engage in negotiations that will only embolden the Iranian regime and give it credibility in the Western world? Isolation of that rogue nation with sanctions is the only way to proceed until either its immoderate leadership is changed or it is willing to stop developing its nascent nuclear program, the avowed objective of which is to destroy Israel and dominate the Middle East. NELSON MARANS Silver Spring, Md.

Faith in Romney

The title of your article on the aspirations of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney--"Can a Mormon Be President?" [Dec. 4]--is a telling indictment of our current political culture. Our nation's Founding Fathers drew up a Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion. It made us the envy of the world, and it is one of the reasons we have become a great nation. And yet centuries later, we are still mired in the mistaken idea that a person's spiritual beliefs have anything to do with whether he or she is a good American. We should judge our leaders by their competence and character, not by their faith. JOHN BOYLAN Los Angeles

Romney can take heart in one regard: having no faith would be far more damaging, as indicated by polls on the chances of nonbelieving candidates. I find that ironic, given that Mormon leaders are apparently scurrying to emphasize their commonality with mainstream Christians, while nonbelievers simply ask for evidence to support belief. As a voter, I want to know just how grounded in reality a potential candidate is. Claims of direct links to the will of God have caused more harm than good of late. JEANNE DYER Foxboro, Mass.

Romney doesn't have to explain anything about his beliefs and testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What he does have to explain is his stance on Iraq, the plight of schools and the economy. These are the important issues to tackle. LES CRUE Germantown, Md.

A Stitch (Back) in Time

I am pleased to see that the lost art of sewing is making a comeback [Dec. 4]. I have had a passion for sewing since my youth, and last summer I opened a center to teach the art of sewing. I'm surprised how far people drive to take my classes. Most of my students are young, and I get so much pleasure from watching them develop the enthusiasm I found so many years ago. For people who are creative and need a new hobby, sewing is "sew" much fun. CINDY FETZER Hollywood, Fla.

I am blessed to have been able to teach sewing throughout my 15-year career in the schools. I have reached the special-needs student, the reluctant learner and the academically gifted, all of whom feel a great sense of accomplishment and confidence as they complete their sewing projects. Some even have dreams of a career in the fashion world. I applaud TIME for bringing this great lost art to light. DARLENE BURESCH Crystal Lake, Ill.

Some of us have never left sewing, as we grew up with it, have needed it for financial ease and liked its creative versatility. My 4-year-old granddaughter, after embroidering her initials on a little pillow she stuffed and sewed, helped me oil my sewing machine and is making lavender-filled fabric packets to give as Christmas presents. To her, it's just one more skill to learn and have fun with. MARIE T. GASS Clackamas, Ore.

Green Gore

In "10 Questions for Al Gore" [Dec. 4], the former Vice President dismissed people who doubt the science of global warming by likening them to "people who believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona." I believe the earth is warming, but Gore is unfair. Almost everyone ignores the fact that water vapor is the greatest contributor to greenhouse-gas warming. Maybe if Gore would recognize that we cannot control global warming as much as we think, we could set aside such a relatively unimportant issue and move the crucial crises, such as genocide and starvation, to the top of the political agenda. DONNIE BOYCE Lake Forest, Ill.

Time noted that Senator James Inhofe has called global-warming science a "hoax." Given a choice of hoaxes, I'll take Gore's humanitarian crusade over the Bush Administration's misguided "war on terror" any day. CARLOS O. SANTACRUZ Doral, Fla.

Free-Market Man

Ben Stein wrote an over-the-top, utterly misguided eulogy for economist Milton Friedman [Nov. 27]. Friedman thought that freedom comes primarily from laissez-faire capitalism, meaning government should leave business alone. This concept was useful at the time of the American Revolution but is surely anachronistic now. Even Adam Smith said that when men of the same trade meet they conspire against the public. Friedman's thinking provides a rationalization for government to turn business loose and empower it to monopolize the market, exploit the consumer and pollute the environment. HARRY L. COOK Ashland, Ore.

I enjoyed Stein's tribute to Friedman. Surely, it is a difficult task to write an adequate epitaph for a Nobel prizewinner who had a positive impact on hundreds of millions of people around the world. Friedman defied the political correctness of his day to show that America's unique success was due to its founders' creation of a system that minimized the government and maximized personal and market freedoms. ROGER E. HAUGO Sioux Falls, S.D.

Reviving 'Rithmetic

RE "How to End the Math Wars" [Nov. 27]: I have a novel idea for how to end the controversy over mathematics education. Ever hear of 2+2 = 4, 6x3 = 18? Maybe if we were to go back to the "Stone Age" of teaching arithmetic, then our children would have the basic skills and be able to compete internationally. Instead our children are not becoming literate in math. How many teenage store clerks are capable of making change? There are already math lessons that have been passed down for thousands of years. Why don't we go back to using them? Let's make our educators teach for a change. JULIE A. POTTS Belleville, Ill.

Slaves to Fashion

RE "So, Should You Buy a Diamond?" [Nov. 27]: This is a serious question, given the unsavory facts about how these stones are procured. A diamond is nothing but crystallized carbon that shines up prettily. The gullibility of people could just as easily lead us to admire a cow patty, glazed, shined and set in aluminum. It is all a matter of the value placed on something by those who profit from its sale and by those who believe its possession makes them enviable. These folks ignore what it takes to get a diamond: the slave labor, the exploitation of entire nations, the dastardly deeds of mining-company overseers. It would really be something if one day the world would wake up and realize it has been duped. PATRICIA GREEN Columbia, Mo.

TV's Melting Pot

Essayist James Poniewozik's "Ugly, the American" [Nov. 27] seemed to champion the cause of illegal immigrants, at least as they are depicted in the TV show Ugly Betty. It's easy for him to do, since most of the people sneaking into our country illegally aren't vying to pen pieces for TIME for a fraction of Poniewozik's salary. But American citizens and legal immigrants who face unemployment as a result of weak border security can't afford to be so glib. BOB HEANEY New York City

I am insisting that all my friends and family read Poniewozik's article. My grandparents were from Mexico. My parents were born in the U.S. and grew up in a mainly Mexican community. They were raised to be bilingual and bicultural and graduated high school at a time when they were forbidden to speak Spanish there. My dad is a Korean War veteran. My brothers and I attended college. I married a Mexican farmworker with a green card. !Dios mio! I remember a time when we rarely saw a brown face in the media. Immigrants remain the hardworking, grateful backbone of this great country's stability.

DOLORES CARDENAS Safford, Ariz.