IN THE MAIL

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Each morning I get out of bed,

And thank the Lord I am not dead,

Then, turning to the CRIMSON's letters,

(Words of wisdom from my betters),

I find a newly dreamed up theory,

Of why the world must be so dreary.

The reason is not the lower classes,

But the yelling, screaming Harvard masses.

I only regret that I have but five minutes in which to read the CRIMSON but the rest of the time is occupied in studying, sleeping or working on my bomb shelter. Harvard students seem to have such a talent for knowing what will happen in the next few years that it is a shame not to be able to read all their theories. They are so, so cute! ! !

Marx says that socialism will ultimately prevail if history takes its course. Why should Russia make man begin again when he has passed so far along the turbulent road to socialism? I cannot picture x and y fighting. Nor do I know of a society destroying itself intentionally. Wherein lies the advantage of a nuclear holocauset? Most people want peace . . . yet there is always the possibility of a fanatic touching off of a nuclear war (for that matter the new health services building might disolve in the next rain storm . . . or even become an efficient medical center) and this uncertainty is what makes life interesting. Who wants to live assured of the future?

Think how dull life would be if there were no possibility of nuclear war. No funny articles in the CRIMSON. No bomb shelters to build. No Civil Defense practices in the middle of Hayden's fifth concerto. Why, we'd have to return to the outer space scares, or perhaps invent something new.

As Ezra N. Suleim says, we should have "no illusions as to our predicament." But that predicament is not one of definite nuclear war, nor of limited conventional war. It is a predicament of uncertainty as to what will happen. Why do we insist upon bomb scares . . all we do is increase the tension and stubbornness in the world. Unwillingness to compromise is the one thing which will lead us into war.

"For sooth, Alcibiades, the Philosopher King has come. Which one, you say? How should I know? There are so many." The only thing proponents of nuclear war have in common is a fear that the atomic bomb will become obsolete and so they give it good press as the quickest way to salvation. I suppose their ultimate goal is to have it included in the Lord's Prayer.

To believe in nuclear holocaust is pessimistic; to believe in conventional warfare or peace, optimistic; to say what will happen, stupidity. Perez C. Ehrich '64