Reader's Response

Last month, we asked how we could adapt the Humanist HappyMan to our local environment. Two ideas were bounced back to us.

One is to have Happy riding on top of the statue of the angel that decorates the religious building on Temple Square. Um...no.

Another is to have him frolicking on a mountain ridge. That sounds like fun, but my artistic development stopped at stickfigures. Is there a graphically gifted person out there who can make the Happy Man go over the mountains?

Bob Goff's article in last months Utah Humanist, "Dreaming: Peace with Justice" got us this rather unusual response.

The Loyal Opposition

After reading Bob Goff's article "peace with Justice," I realized that there are still people stuck in the 60s!. People who are still espousing their same old dogma in the same old way, offering no new concepts or original ideas. These people have to wake up, see what is really happening in the world, and make the peace movement mean something to people other than each other.

Most people who desire peace in the world see it as a global issue. A problem for humanity. The problem faced by Mr. Goff, and those who believe as he does, is that it gives most people the impression that the United States is the only impediment to world peace. True or not, this is the impression that most people have. It is probably the single greatest obstacle that most peace advocates face. Until this impression is overcome, there will be no mass support for a solid peace movement among Americans. At the present moment in history, the peace activists are talking to each other, and nobody else.

It is certainly proper for Mr. Goff to have dreams of peace. But Mr. Goff and many others are going to have to be far more pragmatic in their efforts. This is the only way to gain any meaningful support from the American public. After all, America just won a major campaign in Iraq, one that Americans believe was for "good." Americans see Secretary of State Baker continuously flying from country to country to attempt to build a real peace process in the Middle East. He is talking to countries who, for their own political reasons, simply do not appear to be listening. When Americans see this, why should they pay any attention to Mr. Goff?

Americans currently see the United States working for a peace process for the 21st century. They also have the perception that peace activists are people who are still stuck in the 60s.