WATCHING television or listening to the radio on September 11 and hearing how the lives of those families will never be truly happy again, was a very emotional experience.

Emotion can also be destructive.

The pilots who flew the planes into the twin towers were in a highly emotional state for many years. They were not martyrs. Murder has no part in martyrdom.

A martyr is a person who lovingly sacrifices his life for another or who suffers greatly for adhering to a principle or cause.

If all who listened to the voice of grief were to promote peace, to try to overcome some prejudice or to do some unselfish deed, then at least evil will not have won on that day completely.

MARGARET SMITH

Stanier Street

Swindon