Editor:

After reading letters printed recently concerning the shelling in southern Lebanon (Asad Khan's, "Aggressive Israel not in need of security," on April 23, Josh Barkan's, "Holocaust, Lebanon deaths don't compare," and Adam Vickers', "People care about 'tragedy' in Lebanon," both from April 25), I had mixed emotions.

I am in agreement that it is very sad and tragic that more than 75 innocent lives were taken. I agree that the bombings of southern Lebanon, a cause and effect occurrence (you bomb us, we'll bomb you), is not something that can be equated to the Holocaust, the workings of a madman to rid the world of a particular religion. I am not, however, in agreement that one nation should see itself in need of security from another. The issue here is that humanity is in need of security from itself.

Human beings, as far as I know, are the only member of the animal kingdom that kill when they don't need food or protection (deciding that another country's land is desirable and taking it from them by military force is not protection). We are the only "animals" that find it necessary to destroy each other. People the world over feel that they "own" a particular place in the world, that their religion is so much more "right" than another, that if they want a piece of land they can just take it, that their race is so much more acceptable than another, and things like this lead them to wage war against each other. It's ironic, given the behavior of human beings, that we refer to ourselves as the "civilized" animals.

Jenn Noce
secondary English education senior