Are we teetering on the edge of an abyss of horror and anti-humanism as you say? Oh yes, I have more than a nodding acquaintance with the real world. The world that few see let alone experience. Yes, there is misery and suffering on earth. Human problems are complex but all the trouble in the world is human trouble. All the cruel and malicious indifference confronted has a human face and soul. We are at best indifferent and at worst wantonly cruel. We are shown the awful truth about the horror and absurdity of life. Human life can be stripped of meaning and human beings of dignity. Truth can often be ugly. Cruelty and aggression is a rooted human trait. It has shown itself everywhere. Bosnia, Rwanda, Israel, Lebanon. America - yes it can also have a respectable guise of a scientist inventing new horrific weaponry, in the civil servant planning the use of internment or the use of gas-ovens or the wanton slaughter of innocents or the judicial tortures carried out in prisons on the bodies of enemies throughout the world.

I often wonder how I am able to take the atrocious confusion of this world into my mind and give it back metamorphosed, transfigured with such simple words scribbled across a page! You ask me if the truth of life is unbearable? I stare at Man's instinct for cruelty and death, at his pain and pleasure and I not only feel infinite pity for what Man is, but I have an infinite respect for his efforts in living. Yes I have a loss of confidence in the future, in the continuance of our humanities and essential decencies. I also understand that when people try and make a better world for us to live in, mistakes will be made. If only we could learn from our mistakes!

Today we face what is probably the greatest challenge history has ever known. There never has been a time when millions of people are more desperately in need of faith, hope and courage and peace of mind. The world is in turmoil and has tilted out of balance and overshadowing it are some ominous images. There's something terribly disquieting about what is happening. I try to shake off my negativism and attempt to not allow these concerns to dominate my life. I know that fear is the great destroyer and I recall what Michel de Montaigne observed 'A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears'.

The UN is stretched tight in peace keeping operations throughout the world. They are, under a lot of pressure. It is my conviction and belief that we must not bow to terror. Of course, there are plenty of politicians and people who believe that such countries are not worth the life of a single peace keeping soldier. There are those who believe that we should not become involved and we should let them sort it out amongst themselvesHow can we live with the slaughter of thousands of innocent men, women and children? We've condemned thousands of people to a violent death by our own lethargy. I despise our inactivity. We cannot abandon these people to their fate. If we continue to go ahead as we are, then we will be looking at more potential genocide in the years ahead. That is the tragedy and the irony of the situation. How does this look to the rest of the world? What are we indicating to others by abandoning the Congo to its fate? Are we not showing that the sacrifice of many means little to us if they are of no import? We have to seriously think about it. We have to decide what we are. Do we have the courage and the principle of justice for all men? Or will we continue to be self-satisfied and self-centred? We have to be prepared to take preventative action and if that is too late, remedial action, on a small or large scale to avert such disasters.

What can we expect in the next decade or so? It is my belief, we will see similar scenarios being enacted throughout the world and thousands being driven from their homes from as far afield as the former Soviet Union, North Africa and Latin America. We will see mass flights of homeless refugees flooding across borders into Southern Europe with the rapid de stabilisation of neighbouring European countries as they attempt to deal with this flood. We will see States fall into anarchy and the emergence of further armed rogue nuclear states such as Iran and North Korea, State sponsored terrorism and the further spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons This resulting chaos will not mean the end of the world, but the world, to a large extent, will change.

Just about anyone is capable of anything. Our ethical values, which we tend to think as being solid and incorruptible, corrode in intemperate moral climates such as Rawanda and Bosnia more quickly than can be believed. We cannot continue to sit on the sidelines in anticipation that the problems will solve ithemselves. Can we offer no protection against the desperate ways men devise to harm and kill their fellow men?

From a very early age one accepts, believes, or is told that certain things exist in a certain manner. That society is based on order, on reason, on justice. And that whenever anything goes wrong, one can appeal to the innate decency, or common sense, or a notion of legality in people to rectify error or offer redress. Then suddenly you discover that what you accepted as premises and basic conditions, simply does not exist. Where you expected something solid there turns out to be nothing. Everything you've taken for granted, with so much certainty that you never questioned it, turns out to be an illusion. Certainties and beliefs become lies. I'll never stop believing in justice. In a Century that has seen Hitler, Stalin, Biafra, Vietnam, Pol Pot Bangladesh, Rawanda, etc., what does life truly mean? It doesn't mean much does it.

By doing nothing, by waiting for a more opportune moment to intervene, more people go on dying. Indifference is the greatest sin of all. I believe we have to trade our concern for self, for wealth and security for an equally intense desire to fight whatever is evil and to do whatever is necessary to bring the situation under control. You write of the UN. Power has a way of becoming an end in itself. In such a bureaucracy nothing gets done until it is too late or virtually too late. If it is actually too late, then obviously nothing should be done and the bureaucracy sighs its collective relief and returns to its beloved routine. When you decide the fate of others, you need a very active conscience to start acting against your own interests and it would seem to me that conscience does not stand up very well to much heat or cold. I suppose it is madness to hope that things will change. There seems to be two kinds of madness that we should guard against. One is the belief that we can do everything and the other is the belief we can do nothing. In the past, our forefathers were willing to risk their personal security and future for what they believed in. Now we have the problem of apathy. The apathy of nations and Governments. The apathy of ourselves. We cannot continue to remain indifferent to what is happening. Tomorrow is as important as today for it hopes we have learned something from yesterday.

I agree with your comments. Man has achieved a lot but what have we really achieved? We pollute the air we breathe and our river and water sources. We're destroying great lakes and seas throughout the world. We're killing vast tracks of forest by acid rain and burning. We've deliberately filled our atmosphere with radio-active fallout, knowing its consequences, that has put poison into the bones of our children. We've made bombs that can wipe out the human race in minutes and they are armed and primed to fire with men sitting deep in command centres around the world ready to push the button on word of command. We've bred new strains of genes that can cause fatal incurable disease which could wipe out the majority of the human race. We create weapons of destruction that can only be guessed at. We will have satellites of death arcing space and laser platforms with their bursts of instant, swift, burning death. We've made fantastic new discoveries but what have we done with them? I think you know the answer as well as I. I could continue but you know how I feel. We are a species that has become insane. All too often we hate each other and we only care for our own ideology, politics and nationalism. It becomes hard to tell oneself that we are good people. People destroy one another and oppress one another and suffer and die of hunger and disease. Events cannot wait for condemnation to be raised. The conscience of every man is involved and we have a humanitarian responsibility to all men

You've opened my mind to the complex and tyrannical realities of modern warfare. I'm not sure I truly understand the philosophy and logistics of deterrence, the lethal game of strategic threat and counter threat nor the enigmatic rubrics of intelligence. You tell me that it is a deterrent to guarantee the security of nations and a step has to be taken to reduce the building of such weapons and that any nuclear threat has to be neutralised. I understand the point you are making and I have read the papers you have sent. I've studied the words, read the theories but I can see I have never really understood the matter nor the mechanism of men and their weapons. Yes, I do grasp the horrendous danger of nuclear weapons and that such weapons loom over mankind like a death warrant. I also understand that nuclear weapons cannot be uninvented and I agree with your comment that low yield tactical nuclear weapons have a place in defensive arsenals. Any threat of immediate retaliation by a potent striking force should deter any aggressor but surely such nuclear deterrence has become a suicide pact which is conceived in fear?

You write that no men, no group or country should ever be allowed to control such weapons so that they can bring others to their knees by their use or threat. I agree with your comments entirely, the world cannot afford to face the reality of nuclear terrorism and that nations have to act now in concert to ban such weapons by all possible means - even if necessary by force of arms (ie Iraq). Can peace be found in such a hideous and brutal action? How strange it is to realise that peace should be sought by seeking war. Yet again I begin to come up against the morality of such action and the choices that have to be made. I do not disagree with your comments You also tell me that the US is doing what has to be done to keep the peace but to my mind, fear and suspicion twists men's minds. You also mention the fact that no civilised nation would use such weapons for anything but deterrence. Your words and papers create a ghastly spectre and conjure up many images in my mind. The alternatives you've set out are clear and I wonder at the madness of men. Surely deterrence only prevents a sneak attack in peace time. If tensions mount and war becomes inevitable, the logic becomes flimsy. You've made me sift the causes of peace and war but does the way to peace lie through strength? I am not certain I entirely agree with you.

Can we purge the world from creating further weapons? Are we actively seeking to eliminate nuclear weapons entirely? After decades of dialogue it would seem we can only control them. The agreements reached between the US and Russia are rather cynical regarding the reduction in stockpiles. What difference does it make if 1,000 or 5,000 weapons exist? Surely, how many warheads opposing sides have is immaterial to the point of absurdity. I begin to understand the paradox. They are not a shield are they? In a time of crises they can become a dangerous threat? We should not be talking about strategic arms reduction but complete strategic arms elimination. It is joining with others to not only suppress the spread of nuclear weapons technology but to eliminate such weapons from our armouries completely. Yet the American's actively seek to enhance their nuclear weapons technology to devise greater and more horrific means of killing. I find it confusing. if we want to eliminate such weapons why do we continually seek to enhance their technology?

hat with the terrible news from the States. I couldn't quite believe the news reports early Wednesday morning. The pictures were horrendous. It was surreal and I don't think anyone could have prepared themselves for what they were seeing. It was shocking watching the buildings collapse on live tv, shocking watching the second aircraft hit, shocking watching the survivors escape with their lives, shocking watching people jumping from the buildings but what was most shocking of all was the backdrop of the pale blue calm sky before it filled with dust and debris. At one point I stood outside. It was a beautiful calm Australian Spring day, sunny with a light breeze and as I looked down toward the coastal plain everything seemed surreal again. I could hear the CNN reporter behind me frantically speaking of the horror and there I stood viewing the scenic beauty that lay before my eyes.

The roads were very quiet in Melbourne during the rush hour on Wednesday. Everyone remained glued to their televisions. Here in the office they ran the tv so that people could see what was eventuating. There was a feeling, and still is, of sadness and horror and gloom. No one can quite believe what occurred. Even today people are feeling depressed. Having travelled in the States in April, a feeling of sickness sweeps through me ... as it does others who have flown overseas recently. Suddenly, air travel is not safe any more. We are not safe any more. Our office has recalled all staff travelling overseas from wherever they are and have issued the command "come home now". People are working frantically to get them back on Australian shores as soon as possible. There is a real concern that if the American's attack, reprisal attacks could be felt worldwide and who knows which countries will be hit.

What started as a beautiful week has ended in horror and death and destruction for so many. Each of us feel for the people that have died or are suffering and I believe our Prime Minister, John Howard, who was in Washington during the attacks expressed the feelings of the Australian public at large. We stand united and behind you. We are a friend and if you need help you will receive it. Perhaps this one event has united the West like it has not been united in years. Perhaps now, the ugly spectre of terrorism can be attacked and thrashed though I doubt it will ever be fully destroyed and will continually rise, phoenix like, from whatever ashes are created. It is not something that can be destroyed tomorrow. It will be a long, hard ongoing battle. Many good men will die, many innocents will die in the ensuing conflict but whatever happens, let us hope that those who are responsible or those who will plan such murderous things will take note of the American response. If such a response has the effect of destroying or frightening off a group then something has been achieved.

What makes men create such terror? Aloadin said when he sent out young men to terrorise the land 'Go thou and slay, and when thou returnest, my angels shall bear thee to Paradise'. It is the lure of paradise. The terrorist believes that his earthly sacrifice today will lead to an earthly paradise into which the child of his children's children will be born. This is the glory that is held before him and his blood today will bring paradise for the unborn. The shining light of fanaticism which has a chilling quality that cannot be easily extinguished. Such fanaticism dismays me because we lack the power to destroy it. I feel afraid, afraid of the future as I come to terms with what has happened and I am without any illusions about the depths of barbarity into which a man can descend.

The ways of men are often beyond comprehension. We have become witness to the suffering of mankind, so much is caused by conflict and by the human debris disgorged by it. I often wonder what happens to man's reason, tolerance and compassion? Everyday I read the papers, listen to the commentators and the analysts and the news becomes a surreal collage of orchestrated madness. All too often the balance of peace resides in the profitability of terror. It is difficult to find understanding and absolution for the misdeeds of mankind . It goes hand in hand with intrigue, treachery and insane madness. The end never justifies the means. Justice can no longer be rendered under a system that has surrendered its integrity. I know I feel strongly about such things, but I care, care deeply, as we all care. More and more, we can see the random waves of madness, the ever continuing violence of life, the stupidity of it all, the injustice, the pure blind cruelty and the many links in the terrible chain of acts of terrorism and destruction that are so frequent today. I know the world is filled with violence we see is daily beamed into our living rooms. It has become a fact of life. Violence, madness and hatred exists in many walks of life, under many guises.

I guess we will never have an answer as to why God allows such things to happen. But I also guess the answer lays within ourselves. What has been created has been created by ourselves. By decisions made in the past, by conflict and lack of understanding. By man's ability to create evil and to become the dark monster that lurks inside us all.

So my friends, this e-mail is not about the pretty things in life. This e-mail is about sorrow and horror and is also a prayer for those that have suffered. As you feel as an American, we in Australia, as many do around the world, feel for you and stand in support as to whatever action your Government takes. Dark days lay ahead but beyond that darkness lays hope and the freedom from the tyranny of terrorism.

God be with you all
Sue