Rich, the song sounds like Hellerman could have written it thirty years later about Iraq. When will we ever learn, indeed.

A couple of years ago, Margaret Albright was asked about the 5000 or so Iraqui children who were dying of starvation and disease caused the sanctions every month since the Gulf War, specifically whether our goals were worth that sacrifice; she thought a minute before saying "Yes."

President Clinton called the deaths of the dozens of refugees killed by a misguided missile "regrettable," but, hey, accidents will happen (not his exact words).

NBC's special edition of "Nightline" tonight showed from two recent movies--"The Basketball Diaries" in which a young man dreams about going back to his high school dressed in black and blowing away his classmates with a shotgun__and "The Matrix," in which characters dressed in black walk the halls shooting people, and a video game called "Doom" in which the player walks the halls shooting people. The boys loved that game. They also loved the film "Natural Born Killers."

I don't know what to make of these events, but I do know that American culture tends to glorify violence--and even to justify it when inflicted upon those outside the circles we draw around ourselves. These two boys seem to have been--within the school--driven into a very tiny circle.

Barry Finn's message above seems the closest thing to an answer--as I interpret it. Barry, in getting into his students' worlds, was bringing them into his. Every inch by which we can help young people expand their circles helps.

--seed