`...Yeah, really,' asks Malcolm. `What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?' There's certainly nothing funny about them. Their tragedy is, all too often, their futility. The Buddhist quietism that seems to underlie much of Salinger's philosophy presents a difficulty for some of us who are still haunted by the great lesson of the 1930s. At that time, the horrors of the first World War remained so vivid in the minds of ordinary people & many politicians (who had themselves fought in it) that almost any pacific compromise seemed preferable to a reptition of them. But while Britain & France crawled to Munich - & America determinedly shut her eyes - much worse horrors were gathering. That's the sad thing. Love, understanding, good intentions, prayer, self-sacrifice & so on - in many situations, they're no bloody use. Scottie B.