Thank you for your editorial on the war in Afghanistan, “Counting the cost of revenge” (May 7), and reminding us that two Mennonite peacebuilders lost their lives during this war. Peacebuilding and warmaking both can be dangerous occupations. Although the dangers are high for both groups, peacebuilders’ efforts make lives better — bringing eyesight for the blind (Glen Lapp) and electricity for previously dark homes (Al Geiser) — and cause no collateral damage.

Warriors often come to realize that the more enemies they kill, the more enemies they create. And then there is the collateral damage — the people and property they unintentionally destroy — and the destruction that continues for decades from the unexploded ordnance that litters the towns, villages and battlefields.

Doug Hostetter, Evanston, Ill.