DEAR ABBY: I appreciated your tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Because of his courage, and that of Mahatma Gandhi before him, we see more clearly how it is possible to elevate the consciousness of humankind by how we choose to live. The principles of nonviolence by which these men lived were based on the teachings of all great religions -- not just Christianity. The message that both Gandhi and King gave their lives for was one of unity, not separation or exclusion.
People like these men never die. Though their bodies were assassinated, their spirits live on in everyone who tries to be nonviolent. May we as humans learn from their fine example. -- JANNA CABLE PIJOAN, FORT COLLINS, COLO.
DEAR JANNA: I agree. It's ironic that men who taught the principles of nonviolence and patterned their lives according to those principles died so violently.