To the editor:

Recently, at a book signing in Kansas City, Jane Fonda was spat upon by an angry Vietnam veteran who claimed he was doing what she did to him 37 years ago and was representing all Vietnam veterans. I’ve spoken to some friends who are vets and found the act rude and repulsive.

Obviously, she committed a grave error by going to North Vietnam and posing. She admits it and has apologized many times. She does not apologize for protesting the war like millions of others, including myself. Are you going to spit in all of those faces? I don’t believe she cost lives. Instead, her protesting saved lives. That costly war went on for eight years, claiming the lives of 58,000 young Americans as well as 2 million Vietnamese. How much longer would it have gone on unless people stood up and protested the injustice?

Just look at Vietnam today. It is a peaceful country that shelters no terrorists, nor does it build weapons of mass destruction. I suggest if you want to spit in someone’s face, a better target would be the politicians who sent these young men to their deaths or the lobbyists and their defense contractor pals who prolonged the war to make a buck. People make mistakes when they are young and should not have to be punished the rest of their lives. Isn’t it a Christian virtue to forgive? Thirty-seven years is a long time to hold a grudge. It’s time to let go and forgive and forget.

Craig Tucker,

Lawrence