One Tuesday evening, as I was passing by Lumberland Town Hall, I noticed a few cars parked in front of it. From the people who stood on the municipal parking lot I learned that our town court was in session.

To become thoroughly familiar with the work and structure of our court, I decided for the next few Tuesdays to attend the local court session. I knew that the court is an agency with the ability to settle disputes between individuals, institutions or organizations and that, after hearing the evidence and explanations, judges have the authority to render their judgment in each particular case.

Here in our court I met two judges, William H. McKerrell and Charles D. Fallon, who, with respect to each person and with professional dignity, weighed each case before pronouncing their judicial decision. With high regard for the law and with a studied approach to each case, they intelligently conduct these court sessions. It is worth mentioning that in many cases our judges, before delivering the decision of the court, with kind words and sincerity, advise each party how to stay away from future problems. From my observation I also learned that the court clerk, Lorry King, is a great asset to our court, and the always-present constable Bob Cordani adds to its honor and dignity.

I had a chance to speak with our judges and I determined that they are candid, straightforward and friendly gentlemen with a broad and skillful proficiency.

After the few court sessions I attended I concluded that our local court and justice system are excellent and our judges, William H. McKerrell and Charles D. Fallon, should be congratulated for their highly professional conduct and dedication to their duty.

My name is Theresa and I have a 15-year-old daughter, Jessica, who was becoming an uneducated graduate of her former school. Frustrated, hopeless and nowhere to go, I noticed a small sign on the side of the road, that would change my daughter’s future. That sign was “Glory to God Christian High School.”

In one year my daughter is happier, more confident and most important, educated. I used to cry for my little girl. Now the only tears I have are tears of happiness.

Glory to God Christian High School may close due to a lack of funding. I’m not sure if Jessica will continue to thrive, if she is forced to go back to her old school. It truly saddens me, to think of what the future holds for her, without Glory to God Christian High School.

Please help us keep this school open. You wouldn’t be just keeping a school door open, you would be opening doors for a bright and joyous future, for Jessica and kids like her.

I am a student at Glory to God Christian High School. This was my first year. I am in the 9th grade and I love my school and want to go again next year. I feel safe at my school. There are no fights in the halls and you don’t have to worry that someone has razors in their hats as they did at my other school. I had a chance to do a drama workshop, which I never would have been able to do at the other school. The teachers and the principal are always there for me. I feel I got something this year that I never got before; it’s called learning. I had a very hard time with spelling and reading, but I have improved a lot this year. I have very good feelings about my new school. Will you help our school?

I am saddened that innocent lives have again been lost to terrorists, this time in London. From the relative safety of western Sullivan County, it’s hard to imagine the tense and violent world many people must now live in.

I think it’s important for Americans of whatever political persuasion to take a serious look at where our government has taken the war on terrorism, which began with an attack on a legitimate target, Afghanistan, and then moved massive military resources to a place that we now know had no connection to 9/11—Iraq. It’s difficult to admit, but we took our eyes off the ball. Instead we picked a fight that wasn’t ours, and as a result, Al Qaeda has been reinvigorated, not destroyed. In London, and who knows where next, we are reaping the harvest of that mistake.

Man’s single biggest source of world agony and turmoil is religion. Religion is a belief that some form of god exists and that this god is the giver of power to one of this globe’s numerous diversified peoples to control the rest of the world. This idea was easily perpetuated among illiterate and unknowing people eons ago. The catastrophic clashes of the resulting religious turmoil dominate headlines worldwide even today, yet you too force your religious values upon all people of this nation.

Your administration’s main purpose seems to be to maintain control by enforcing your own religious beliefs upon all the residents of this United States, and probably on the rest of the world as well—just as those of Islamic belief do. You and your administration are no better than the Taliban that you have failed successfully to oust from Afghanistan. You are guilty of using your religious views to achieve the same type of control as that of the Taliban barbarians.

If you claim that you are one of God’s children and that all of God’s children are your brothers, then you had better not pick and choose who is or is not your brother. Because if you do, you too are nothing but another lying hypocrite. If you believe in your religion, by all means practice it and follow it with verve and with all your heart. But do not force your religion or any of its beliefs down the throats of others who care less for it, or who do not believe there is a god. To do so makes you a dictator and a tyrant.

I really hope you see the light before permanent damage has been done to this nation and before the point of no return is reached. But based on your past history of truth when addressing issues of morality, I doubt it.

Around the world people yearn to find peace and give solace to the suffering and bereaved. Once again the clash of polarized enemies clamors for attention. Al Qaeda takes pride in this heinous and sordid crime, while western nations seek to bring the terrorists to justice. Yet it would be naive to take the simple way out and call this an example of pure evil and depravity.

In a very real way we are all part of the London tragedy. Everyone is caught in the tangled web of social injustice, economic disparities, ecological disaster, war and terrorism. Unless we accept this fact, we will continue with our madness of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Mahatma Gandhi declared that if we continue on this path the whole world would go blind. Will we ever see through our blindness and create a global community of connected humanity?

To promote peace today means promoting a critical mass of consciousness where violence is never an option. Millions of people are ready to join in harmonious interaction with nature—and with our own complex inner nature—to create a world of peace, harmony, laughter and love. Let us strengthen our intention to create that critical mass of peace consciousness. Every tear can be a drop of nourishment for the new world that wants to be born and is making itself known little by little, every day. Each one of us can help create this critical mass by becoming the embodiment of peace consciousness by: being peace… thinking peace… feeling peace… speaking peace… acting peace… creating peace… sharing peace… celebrating peace.

Peace is the answer.