I am writing in response to a letter published in Monday's Collegian. In it, David L. Sheridan, Jr., criticizes any humanitarian efforts towards Bosnia. Essentially, his argument is that war is a societal means of cleansing itself and the casualties are never innocent victims, so the United States is foolish to get involved.

While his critique of the politics are somewhat accurate, his theories about war and altruism are distrubing. Although the question of intervention in Bosnia may be somewhat tricky, Sheridan's mockery of our feelings of sympathy can only be described as callous.

Mr. Sheridan, morality is not mathmatics. You don't weigh this theory against that theory, you can't calculate a logical system of morality. Deep down you know what is right and what is wrong and you feel for other human beings. When you no longer can, there is something seriously wrong.

Mr. Sheridan follows the great tradition of blaming the victims for their misfortune. With a vague sense of justice, Sheridan "reasons" that those suffering must have deserved it, and he then, I'm sure, feels a lot better.

But what kind of monster can stomach saying that all the rapes, the "ethnic cleansing" and the murders that have occurred in the past 22 months warrant no sympathy -- that's only society cleansing itself of its evil? Who is so heartless as to react to genocide with indifference, to laugh at people of sympathy?

War is not a rational means at all; it's atrociously senseless, as senseless as the deaths of 200,000 women, men and children who did not deserve to die.

Mr. Sheridan, how dare you try to spread your ignorance and your hate. You are a disgrace to this campus, to this country.

For those of you who do care, you can write our elected officials and urge them to work for an end to the destruction. And you can write to President Milosevic of Serbia.

Please write. And thank God that you were not born in Bosnia, because there are plenty of David Sheridan's in our country who just don't care -- no matter how they phrase it.