Linnet Myers’ “How to go to war/A field guide to madness” (Perspective, Aug. 17) was an exceptional piece of writing. It can sometimes be disturbingly easy to read the statistics of the beatings, murders and rapes committed in Bosnia (or anywhere else) and then turn the page and go on to another article. We can become desensitized by statistics that we cannot comprehend.
So Ms. Myers has done us all a favor by adding personal stories to the terrified faces we see running from snipers in a black and white news photo . . . to the anonymous sniper on the rooftop . . . to an orphan in the streets . . . to an elderly suicide victim . . . and to a foreign correspondent.
When we read statistics such as 1,000 civilians murdered, 200 women raped and scores of orphans roaming the streets, it is important for us to remember that each of the individuals who make up these statistics has a story.
