Dear Virginia, Post 9-11 Version
Virginia is the famous little girl that wrote to an editor of The New York Sun in 1897 asking if there was a Santa Claus. You can find the letter and his published response here.
There’s also a tradition of the USPS in New York, Operation Santa Claus, copied in other cities, that gives letters that kids write to the jolly man to people that want to fulfill the kids’ wishes.
All things must pass, I guess. You can’t send a holiday wish to an unidentified soldier, sailor or marine. The envelope may contain anthrax or another toxin. It might have an anti-military message. There aren’t enough people to screen the mail so they are returned to sender or destroyed. Here’s the story on cnn.com.
I guess I understand; but, if the USPS can figure out a way to run it’s operation, can’t the Pentagon figure out a way to send well wishes to the people that could use the morale boost?
3 comments:
The Pentagon puts them in harm's way but then protects them from mail? [This is me, shaking my head as I walk away ...]
Yet another example of trading freedom for security.
I don't think they're really afraid of anthrax or toxins. They're able to effectively screen mail to congress, to the technology certainly exists to screen it for troops.
I think the real reason is tacked on to the end of the article: an anti-war activist might send them an anti-war letter. There is still one thing the Pentagon doesn't yet have an antidote for: the truth.
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