CACOR member Rick Carpenter wrote the following letter to the Globe and Mail, which published it 12 November 2022. The letter was in response to
Peace on Earth?
We have to believe in a world without war
(Opinion, Nov. 5):
I am grateful to distinguished scientist and Nobel laureate John Polanyi for his eloquent expression of what should be a broad-based yearning.
An editorial cartoon years ago featured two planets. One in the guise of a doctor holds a stethoscope to the surface of Earth. The caption reads: “I have bad news. You’ve got humans.”
History’s evidence of deadly quarrels, sadly too oft-repeated, predisposes governments wishing for peace to prepare for war. Sound as this seems, the record has not improved. Despite, or just as likely because of, the umbrella of nuclear deterrence, armed conflict persists.
Perhaps, as U.S. philanthropist Andrew Carnegie maintained, “There is a safer way … it requires only the consent and the goodwill of the governments … if you want peace, agree to keep the peace.”
Or are humans a fatal disease?
Frederic Carpenter Ottawa
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