It was one of those gorgeous spring days. There were daffodils blooming, tulip trees bursting out in color, a warm sun, and a clear blue sky. One felt like singing that descriptive song from the musical Oklahoma, "Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day."

Then I picked up the morning newspaper and the first sentence in the article cautioned me not to read it unless I had a strong stomach. It was an editorial by the columnist, Anthony Lewis.

Uniformed government soldiers, arriving in a village, round up the men and women. If the commander feels that those villagers are not firmly supportive of the government efforts to destroy subversion, then they are recognized as subversive, and are lined up and shot to death. The soldiers do not waste bullets on children. They pick them…