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President Barack Obama is the first U.S. president in office to visit Hiroshima, at the memorial for some 30,000 people mostly unconnected with that war, were killed by a single atomic bomb. He advocated for pursuing a world without such tragic weapons. Let us hope for effective action, not just words. War kills people; war destroys things; war, preparation for war, and interest on pas wars costs the US near half of all our taxes. Thus all involved lose tragically.

But his words ring true: “We must change our mindset about war itself. To prevent conflict through diplomacy, and strive to end conflicts after they’ve begun. To see our growing interdependence as a cause for peaceful cooperation, and not violent competition. To define our nations not by our capacity to destroy, but by what we build. And perhaps above all we must re-imagine our connection to one another as members of one human race.”

We must support diplomacy first, and a just foreign policy to prevent violence before it starts.

STEVE WILLEY

Sandpoint