Only PEACE will save us from another September 11!

While I was marching for peace recently, a woman came up to me and shouted, "Saddam is Hitler! Remember September 11!" She got right up in my face and, eyes aglow with hate and fear, screamed "September 11! September 11!" over and over again.

Then, smugly, as if she personally had just defeated Saddam Hussein and saved America all by herself, she left before I could think up a suitable reply.

What would be a suitable reply?

Perhaps I could have said, "We are all in this together, lady. Let's all work together to prevent the unbearable nightmare of September 11 from ever happening again -- and bombing other countries is not the answer. It only sets an example to the world that murder and mayhem are acceptable. There has to be a better way."

But the woman was gone -- and she probably wouldn't have listened to me anyway. Sometimes hate and fear blinds us to larger realities.

A national policy of initiating aggression did not save Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy or Tojo's Japan. And it will not save us either.

Ultimately, only peace -- not war -- will keep America safe from the horrors of another September 11. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. I want something better for myself and my children -- I want freedom and democracy.