‘Will to Survive,’ and Western Values

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/opinion/will-to-survive-and-western-values.html

Version 0 of 1.

To the Editor:

Re “In Speech, Trump Asks if West Has ‘Will to Survive’ ” (front page, July 7): President Trump asked an important question in Poland. But he misunderstands what Western civilization, or at least the United States, is about.

We are more than physical territory or particular people. We are also core values such as respect for the individual, for community, for the rule of law, and for science and reason. But Mr. Trump, in his support of arbitrary and emotional responses to the threat of terrorism, seems to be in opposition to those values.

I live in New York City, worked at the World Trade Center in the 1980s and lost a friend in the Sept. 11 attacks. I want the United States to face the threat of terrorism by remaining true to its best values. If we throw those things away, what Mr. Trump claims to fear will have happened — we will have lost the will to survive.

JOHN FORREST TOMLINSONNEW YORK