Japan: Grace in the Ruins

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Bright Ideas
What a lift I got from your 12 pages of reasons to have hope for the world [The 10 Ideas That Will Change the World - for the Better, March 28]. Thank you.
Carol Williams, INDIAN LAND, S.C., U.S.

TIME's world-changing 10 ideas look at the future through rose-colored glasses. A mention of how things could go wrong would have presented a more balanced picture.
Margit Alm, ELTHAM, AUSTRALIA

Re "Fix the Deficit? We Can Do That": In a single descriptive phrase about politicians "More worried about the next election than about the next generation" writer Marc Goldwein has identified one of the most significant issues crippling America's political processes. We need to eliminate career politicians and limit elected officials in both the House and Senate to single terms so they can spend their time working rather than campaigning. Until we address this flaw, we cannot reasonably expect progress on the tough issues of our time.
Lawrence R. Williams, BALDWINSVILLE, N.Y., U.S.

Each year my high school chooses a project geared toward making the world a better place. Last year we worked very hard to raise money to build a girls' school in Afghanistan. When I read your article in 10 Ideas, "Why Afghanistan Is Far from Hopeless," I felt gratified to know that school enrollment has dramatically increased. It's even more satisfying that Afghans feel their country is headed in a prosperous direction. It made me feel like our small-town high school efforts were all the more worthwhile.
Emma Giering, CLARION, PA., U.S.

The Limits of Strictness
Thank you, Nancy Gibbs, for bringing to light the stupidity of no-tolerance authority [Zero Tolerance, Zero Sense, March 28]. During my sophomore year of high school, I received a two-hour extended detention for cutting class to attend a Holocaust survivor's book signing at our school that was open only to certain history classes and not mine. I am currently 19 years old, and in retrospect, I did learn a valuable lesson: authority is a mockery of itself in its inability to view the shades of gray.
Katherine Kula, BOURBONNAIS, ILL., U.S.

As a former principal, I think those school officials who adhere so strictly to the letter of zero-tolerance rules are cowards. They are afraid to make honorable decisions. They do not want to even have to make decisions. They want a prescription to follow so they can say they were just adhering to the rules.
James K. Gant, DENTON, TEXAS, U.S.

Gibbs captured some of the absurdities in our school systems. We will suspend, expel or seek counseling for a child in possession of a Boy Scout tool or dinner knife. But when it comes to dealing with kids who harass or bully fellow students, we are woefully lacking in effective help for either victim or perpetrator.
Becky Weech, PARKER, COLO., U.S.

Let's Stay Together
Writer-activist Dan Savage's response in 10 Questions that longtime couples are "unrealistic" about the nature of love is foolish and demonstrates his lack of understanding concerning love's transformative power over those 40 years he so blithely dismisses [March 28]. I'm sure we would have all gotten the point if he had just said, "Marriage is stupid, and I don't like it." Despite Savage's blanket assertions about how foolish we all are for entering into a loving, committed marriage, I can't wait until my wife and I have been married for four decades.
Aaron Casavant, LORTON, VA., U.S.

Savage's advice to TIME's readers demeaning marital fidelity is a prescription for generational dysfunction. Both my parents-in-law recently passed away after 58 years of marriage. They were true soul mates who didn't need to look elsewhere and not surprisingly left this world only a few weeks apart. Their fidelity left a great example to their children and grandchildren and all they met.
Philip East, CARRAMAR, AUSTRALIA