Show compassion instead of force

President Dwight Eisenhower's words shortly after he took office were prophetic, especially for today ("Guiding ideal: Balance," April 9). "We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat," he warned, describing "humanity hanging on a cross of iron" (meaning the arms industry).

These days, we read that our country has dropped the "mother of all bombs" on our enemies in Afghanistan ("U.S. blasts IS site with huge bomb," Friday). On Good Friday, millions of Christians in churches around the world heard Jesus' words from the cross, "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing."

How can we hold these two events together? Surely, those who exult in such bombing of fellow human beings, even our enemies, do not know what they are doing. If anything, we should bomb our enemies with a half million bushels of wheat.

|Rev. Paul F. Morrissey, St. Augustine Church, Philadelphia

President Trump said the dropping of his monster bomb was a "very, very successful mission." But, no reports on how many tunnels were destroyed? No facts about how many civilians were killed in the wake of that terrible bomb's path? What else is new?

|Ellie Shaffer, Jenkintown, ellie614@verizon.net

Should Donald Trump follow through with any preemptive strike on North Korea, he would be making the largest blunder of this century ("China urges U.S., North to calm down," Saturday). While Kim Jong Un is unstable, his primary development of nuclear weapons is for deterrent purposes. He has shown no aggressive behavior to add any territory. His purpose is to preserve his power and position. He knows that to launch a missile would end in his destruction.

If he felt that the United States was intent on bringing him down by a military action, he could be incited to act irrationally and possibly use one of his nukes, because he would have nothing to lose. The United States should stop its sabre rattling.

|Jim Kippen, Plymouth Meeting, kiprave@comcast.net

Philly needs new faces to clean up its act and clean out its relics ("Better candidates would help," Monday).

Democrat Rebecca Rhynhart is challenging incumbent Democrat Alan Butkovitz for the office of city controller. She is qualified, experienced, and capable. Her vision for Philadelphia is one that embraces innovation and modernization while reestablishing productive relationships with city agencies.

We all need to vote on May 16 to make the changes our city desperately needs. Make yours an informed vote.

|Kay Braun, Philadelphia, kpbraun@aol.com

As a former member of the Kenney administration, how could Rebecca Rhynhart run for the office of controller, the city's independent auditor ("Controller candidate: PPA merits an audit," Friday)? Not only would she be assessing the practices and policies of her former boss, but she could, hypothetically, be reviewing work that she herself performed. This is absurd. How could her candidacy possibly have gotten this far? Isn't anybody looking at this?

|Mike Egan, Plymouth Meeting

Ronnie Polaneczky's column, "He has a home, and love, for Easter" (Sunday) was real, moving, and uplifting. This story of a homeless man finding love and compassion from strangers who lifted him from the streets to his own home was wonderful. It renews my faith in the basic goodness of people.

In this era of headlines of violence and crime, it was a great diversion. Keep it up; it's one of the reasons I read the newspaper, to connect me to my community.

|Ken Derow, Swarthmore