To the Editor:

Thousands have died in Bosnia. Hundreds of thousands have died in Rwanda. The threat of the use of nuclear weapons by and against North Korea is imaginable. Trouble spots about worldwide. Crime is commonplace. Homicide makes headlines in fewer and fewer places. And yet, the tragedy of the circumstances involving O.J. Simpson captures our attention far beyond the others. Why? Because, and maybe only because, he is O.J.

He is the symbol of what is right with America. Words cannot capture what he means to us. He makes us feel good about ourselves. He makes us dream the American dream. He makes us smile. And, now, he leaves us emotionally exhausted, happy he is still alive, but very apprehensive that he now symbolizes that undefinable something that is wrong with America.

Many have written of the thin veneer of civilization that keeps us from being beasts. O.J. seemed invulnerable to becoming uncivilized, much less murderous. Authorities now think he was not. Others don't want to think the worst, but, in their private moments, surely do.

We hope for the best. Maybe there was a mix-up. Could there have been a setup? Maybe this. Maybe that. And, yet, we're ultimately reduced to the defensive sounding, he's innocent until proven guilty.

From hero to what? Let the psychiatrists analyze. Dissociative state? Separation homicide? What do these things mean? Are they meant to build an insanity defense? Can they restore O.J. to that (unrealistic) pedestal upon which we placed him?

Again, from hero to what? Fallen hero doesn't seem adequate. It's more than that. That we have to ask the question is heartbreaking. It's not more than we can take in this jaded society. Nothing seems to be. But, it's close. Too close.

Steve Mosley

Sikeston