Andy Rooney is the resident curmudgeon on "60 Minutes," and more often than not, his grousing and grumping is pretty funny and much to the point, because most of us tend to grouse and grump about the same things (what used to be a full pound can of coffee appears to be the same size, but in small print the label says "Net Weight 13 oz." or the dozens of unsolicited credit card applications that come in the mail every month).

But in his commentary on last night's "60 Minutes," he talked about Memorial Day, and he came down pretty heavy on this one. He said some pretty thought-provoking things, one of which was

There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity—war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people.

I can't recall precisely all that he said, but the general thrust was that perhaps if we were a bit braver in peacetime (i.e., between wars)—can't we, a supposedly intelligent species, find a better alternative to solving our difficulties than going to war?

It's a good question. It may seem simple-minded to some people, but it does demand an answer.

Don Firth