To the editor:

The development, use, possession and threats to use nuclear weapons makes all other historical events seem trivial by comparison. 

The fact that our country could cause human extinction in a matter of hours is beyond human comprehension and reason. Yet there is a high probability this could happen. 

The philosophical implications of nuclear weapons have been examined by the brilliant but little known philosopher Gunther Anders. Ecclesiastes “There is nothing new under the sun” will be replaced by, "Nothing ever was” "For today our fear of death is extended to all mankind; and if mankind were to perish leaving no memory in any being, engulfing all existence in darkness, no idea, no struggle, no love, no pain, no hope, no

comfort, no sacrifice-everything will have been in vain and there would only be that which had been, and nothing else.”

Our grandparents were the last humans because they lived in a finite world and we, despite our omnipotence to destroy the world, are really the first dwarfs “who are granted survival until further orders.” As former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said “We lucked out" in avoiding nuclear war. 

Thus, we are subject to fate and the whims of our fallible politicians or a computer error. All our major institutions have failed us in alerting us to the nuclear danger and the insanity, deceit, lies, surrounding any discussion of nuclear weapons has exposed a profound flaw  in our civilization, perhaps a fatal flaw. This flaw coupled with our own incapacity to have fear that is proportional to the enormity of the danger marks the freezing point of human freedom. 

Many who do think about nuclear weapons are overwhelmed and feel intellectually and emotionally drained at the thought of it. They fall into a sense of helplessness and futility and try to go about their day trying to maintain their mental health. To preserve their mental health, they engage in denial which is the worst possible action, for now the danger to humanity becomes greater.

We need the courage to fear regarding nuclear weapons. Following Anders we need to increase our capacity to fear and this fear must be of a special kind: “1) a fearless, fear since it excludes fearing those who might deride us as cowards, 2) a stirring fear, since it should drive us into the streets instead of under the cover, 3) a loving fear, not a fear of danger ahead but for generations to come."

All of us must light a fire of truth and demand the immediate eradication of all nuclear weapons and this fire should burn away all our feeling of helplessness, and despair as well as all the lies and justifications for nuclear weapons. 

(Even the term nuclear weapon is a lie. A nuclear “weapon" is an instrument of human extinction.)

This fire of truth must blaze across every town, every city and every state and once we have a clearing, our politicians and generals will be unmasked and replaced by thoughtful policies that will give humanity what humanity needs — a future.

Peter Orlando

Barrington