I found guest columnist Monica Torline’s (America Gets An Overdue Wake-up Call, 9/26) subtle insinuation that American attitudes are somehow responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center, to be offensive. And her off-the-mark analogous comparison of capitalism to body odor is in incredibly poor taste considering that the only wrong thing the 6,333 capitalist victims did was go to work. My offense is only slightly tempered by Torline’s obvious youthful ignorance.
Torline decries American behavior she observed in Spain as basically rude and boorish. She is critical of Americans for such grievous offenses as using traveler’s checks and American cash “when the peseta was the more widely used currency.” I should like to remind Torline and the nose-pinching Spaniards of whom she writes and all else who are in need of reminding, that were it not for the sacrifice and blood of Americans the peseta and all the rest of the Euro currencies would have long ago been replaced with the Deutschmark.
How sad for all if no one thanked her for being an American during her stay in Spain. Torline can call whomever she wishes “ignorant.” It is, however, her own ignorance and her likely having never taken the time to know a generation of sacrificing Americans well enough to have forgotten them that impoverishes her life.
Mike Dwyer Grandview Heights, Ohio
