To the editor:

With all of this tragedy, destruction and mayhem running rampant through America's schools in recent years, I believe it would be constructive and uplifting to offer the youths a little salve for their tribulations in the form of a statement of unconditional acceptance. It seems as though most of the deadly acts of violence are being administered by outcasts, the socially disenfranchised, the poor souls who are pushed aside by popular opinion to the unloved fringes.

It's time to say to adolescents that they've been approved and accepted. No matter who they are, it's OK. The bottom line is that, although you possess tremendous social inadequacies and miserable shortcomings and behave inappropriately in most situations, we still extend to you a giant, all-encompassing bear hug with the intention of alleviating this feeling of being a total corn nut.

The gauntlet has been thrown. The message has been sent. A whiff of love is in the air. That whiff is from the hairy armpit of America with its large, meathook arms spread wide open to embrace, hold and protect the youths who are the seedlings of promise for the next millennium.

THOMAS EDWARDS

Cape Girardeau