Give Italy's Under-40s a Chance

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Our report on Italy's young people prompted readers to offer their own stories of stalled careers and frustrated hopes. Others criticized the generation's reluctance to take risks

Re "The fading future of Italy's young" [April 10]: My compliments on a well-written article. I can say with conviction that Guia Soncini, the columnist for a women's magazine quoted in your story, hit the nail on the head when she said the youth of Italy "are comfortable with how things are." As a Filipino immigrant in Rome, I can only agree. The reluctance of young Italians to take risks is still something of a marvel to me. I work for a family whose 36-year-old son doesn't seem to want to move out of the house, saying his salary won't permit him to stand on his own. Not only is he older than I, but he also earns more. I send half my salary home to my loved ones. Stay-at-home sons should grow up and realize that bettering one's life entails a lot of sacrifice. Take us immigrants, for example: I am far from the pampering ways of my mother and far from the warmth and security of my country.
Nelson Manglallan
Rome

Your story struck the right chord. Italy's youth have much to offer, and we should adopt a more positive attitude. The past five years of misgovernment helped spread a sense of hopelessness and malaise among Italy's young, but we must not feel cynical and impotent. We ought to take steps to get what we deserve. I have just come back from the polls, where I voted to turn over a new leaf in our history, hoping that a new government will talk not only about young people but also to young people. Most of all, we must not fall victim to the system. Sooner or later we will enter the power structure and have the opportunity to change the status quo.
Fabio Saguato
Diano Marina, Italy

I am struck by the similarity of the situation in France. Where does the high unemployment of the young come from if not from a lack of confidence in them, a feeling that they are just kids? Worse, it may be the will of elders to keep what they have and not give it to the young, who are seen as another species, maybe a little frightening. And the government has not been able to create opportunities for employment. The young are considered unreliable workers who have to be hired under different terms. The pro-testers in France have had enough of people telling them they are only kids. They have been dependent on their parents and felt inferior for too long. They just want to be full citizens.
Noélie Buisson-Descombes
St. Etienne, France

While you cited cultural, social and economic reasons that young, educated Italians under 40 still live with their parents, you failed to mention the outdated and inadequate teaching system. Since education doesn't focus enough on practical, market-oriented subjects, Italy's potential workforce is full of talented and educated youths who are inexperienced and struggle to find their place in the labor market. A first-class university degree doesn't help when you are faced with high rent, a housing crisis and double-digit unemployment. On the other hand, the stagnant political establishment has to keep in mind that radical and urgent reforms are badly needed in the labor market. Unless we can make changes rapidly, we might as well start talking about a lost generation of young workers.
Giulio Cicconi
Teramo, Italy

I worked as a freelance journalist for more than a decade, but I spent my 30s without a solid position. I had to wait. Every time I tried to raise my head, someone said I was arrogant. I tried to shift my career path to international diplomacy, but that caused my divorce because my wife expected me to stay a journalist. "Remain who you are," she said. "You do not need to change unless you are overly ambitious." But today we need to change. The seeds of the current crisis were visible even 10 years ago, when people earned their degrees and had to wait years to get a good job.
Fabrizio D'Amico
Milan

Congratulations to photographer Guglielmo de' Micheli. His pictures accompanying the article on Italy's young were truly outstanding. The shot of Mariangela Potenza and her dog makes de' Micheli a worthy heir to Da Vinci.
Michael Elmquist
Malmö, Sweden

Eyes on 2008
Columnist Joe Klein noted senator Bill Frist's missteps as he has courted the G.O.P. presidential nomination [April 10]. I agree with Klein's assessment of the public's growing revulsion for politicians who put personal job security before defending the democratic principles that have made our country a beacon of freedom. Two people could lead the country away from the lies, poverty and suffering resulting from Republican corruption and mismanagement: Al Gore and Senator Russ Feingold. True leadership is necessary to address the critical issues of global warming, nuclear proliferation, rising oil prices and national security.
Brian Campion
Burlingame, California, U.S.

Klein stated that senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton "have taken courageous positions on important issues, especially the war in Iraq." Give me a break. To anyone not living in some type of bizarre world alongside George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, it is apparent that what is going on in Iraq is a murderous disaster. The only leader who has taken a courageous stand on the war is Representative John Murtha, who has called for bringing all the troops home from Iraq.
Kenneth R. Weinberg
New York City

Klein's column about the presidential ambitions of Frist, Clinton and McCain brought to mind a quip attributed to Gore Vidal: "Any American who is prepared to run for President should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so."
David R. Thiessen
Woodstock, Illinois, U.S.

Gorby Talks
Re your interview with Mikhail Gorbachev [April 10]: Gorbachev was one of the most influential leaders for peace in the 20th century. Although taking the path of peace did not make him a revered figure in Russia, he laid a real foundation for his country to become a dominant economic force in the world. Americans should pay attention to what he said in Time's interview: "America is intoxicated by its position as the world's only superpower. It wants to impose its will. But America needs to get over that. It has responsibilities as well as power." We Americans need to change our posture as soon as possible.
Bob Schieck
Antioch, Illinois, U.S.

Considering the debt that millions of people owe Gorbachev for his unique and enormous contributions to peace, it is unconscionable that he is living on a government pension of about $1,400 a month. We should create a special fund for him. For a start, I will gladly contribute half my pension.
Cedric Vendyback
Kelowna, Canada

I was amazed to read that Gorbachev's government pension is only 40,000 rubles a month, about $1,400. I wish U.S. Presidents and politicians received similarly meager pensions. Not only would that be hugely popular with the American public, it also probably wouldn't financially ruin those officials. Most of them get rich in office, if they weren't already wealthy.
Rex H. Wyers
Pace, Florida, U.S.

It is certainly sad to see the developments in Russia since Gorbachev was President of the former Soviet Union. His concept of perestroika was sorely misunderstood by the population, which has since separated into many factions, each with its own agenda. As a Nobel laureate, Gorbachev will be remembered by many of us as a man who was ahead of his time.
Henrik V. Blunck
Dianalund, Denmark

What's Next for Israel?
time's story on Ehud Olmert's victory in the Israeli elections [April 10] said it showed that Israeli voters "are apparently ready to sacrifice the ancient dream of a Greater Israel — stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River — for peace with a Palestinian state." But most Israelis already favored such a sacrifice. The concept of a Greater Israel has generally been embraced by only a small minority. While you reported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' regret that Olmert did not win more seats, most Israelis regret Abbas' failure to stop Hamas from winning the latest Palestinian elections. That Israel's center-left captured such a large number of seats and that the right-wing Likud Party has disintegrated — even on the heels of the Hamas victory — should be viewed as a positive and hopeful development. What remains to be seen, once Israel's new government coalition has formed, is whether a Palestinian leadership emerges that is capable of taking the next step forward to a lasting peace.
Jeffrey Ellis
Los Angeles

Climate in Crisis
Thank you for your splendid report on global warming [April 3]. The combined effects of scientific and technological advancements and the population growth that accompanies them have become the very real weapons of mass destruction that menace humanity. So let's face the whole problem: no measures, necessary as they are, will suffice to prevent a catastrophe in the long term unless we also curb population growth. It is a very difficult challenge that will require shared sacrifice. But if we don't slow our reproductive rate, nature will have her vengeance.
Gabriel R. Navarro
Madrid

Like so many articles on global warming, your otherwise comprehensive Special Report ignored the two elephants in the corner: population growth and rising wealth. If the world's population were 3 billion instead of 6 billion and if economic growth were not at the top of every world leader's agenda, the environment would not have deteriorated to its present state.
Nigel Pike
Phang Nga, Thailand

It is clear that most present-day global warming is a consequence of the developed world, which keeps vomiting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. For the developing world (especially India and China), any project to reduce its environmental impact on a large scale will be ambitious and costly. But the ambition is definitely there. There should be a new Kyoto-style agreement that would have the developed world, especially the U.S., finance such a project. That way the developed world would pay compensation for the harm it has done to the environment and be instrumental in saving our planet.
Vineet Pande
Stockholm

When a nation as resourceful as the U.S. contributes 25% of the total emissions polluting the environment and only reluctantly takes action to reduce them, I am genuinely disappointed. What an unbelievable waste of capability. Considering the brainpower, information and materials available, how can the U.S. miss such an opportunity to offer a levelheaded, constructive and sustainable approach to solving the crisis of our planet? Although I have much respect for and the greatest confidence in the U.S. as a leader in other areas, from an environmental perspective I cannot imagine a greater waste of human capacity than the bunch inhabiting the West Wing of the White House.
Karen Marie Kristensen
London

Global warming must be addressed in the same way the U.S. set up the Manhattan Project to beat Hitler at creating the atom bomb. If that was a problem of national security, this is a problem of global security concerning all nations. Hence an equivalent international commitment is needed, instead of bickering among developing and industrialized nations and gimmicks like carbon trading that do not address the scale of the problem. As much as we would like her to, Mother Nature does not negotiate with us. There is nothing we can do about the times she chooses to cause earthquakes. But there is a lot we can do to wean humanity from fossil fuels by generating energy using other technologies. Perhaps they are expensive, but we can't wait for the costs to come down. All nations must act decisively.
Peter Priyantha Dias
Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

There have been cycles of global warming and cooling since the world began. But trying to convince people that doom is just around the corner is irresponsible. Time wants us to believe that Bush is the cause of the impending catastrophe, but the fact is, the Clinton Administration never submitted the Kyoto treaty to the Senate for ratification. Can anyone imagine China, India or any other country renouncing the use of fossil fuels in sufficient quantities to make a difference?
Jack Foley
Moore, Oklahoma, U.S.

Thank you, time, for your efforts to save our planet! Your cover story on global warming should send a message to policymakers around the world that those of us who have called on our leaders to take action to save Planet Earth have not been crying wolf. Climate change is creating catastrophic and nasty conditions. As I write, my town is installing solar-power panels on our town-hall building. Every government on the planet must start thinking globally and acting locally.
Paul Feiner, Town Supervisor
Greenburgh, New York, U.S.

The report on global warming makes a convincing case that our planet is getting hotter, but shouldn't we at least be considering the possibility that we are going through a natural cycle that we can't stop or lessen? All the solutions focus on reducing carbon dioxide, which may be a good idea, but shouldn't we also be thinking about how we can adapt to environmental change, as all species have had to do since the beginning of time?
Charles W. Meyer
Fremont, California, U.S.

time's cover photo of a polar bear among shrinking ice floes broke my heart. Thanks for perfectly capturing a simple, real-life symptom of a complicated problem. We humans have to take responsibility for how our lifestyle affects the innocents around us. I know I'm motivated to do better.
Matthew M. Cooper
Eugene, Oregon, U.S.

Be worried? no — be prepared! We've done the damage, and now we must live with the consequences. Worrying won't help. Our actions may determine how long we survive as a species.
Matt Devereux
London, Canada

Why do people cry about climate change as if the climate were something that is not supposed to vary? The entire history of the planet is one of climate change. Glaciers receding? My house is built where a glacier once was. The same is true for much older structures. Trying to stop Earth's climate from changing is as realistic as trying to stop Earth from spinning.
Gordon Otto
Calgary, Canada

Iran and the Bomb
In his essay "Today tehran, tomorrow the world" [April 3], Charles Krauthammer stereotyped Iranians as followers of an "extreme and fanatical ideology" who would wield nuclear power recklessly. He argues that while good sense has kept other rogue nations from using the atom bomb, Iran, "undeterred by the usual calculations of prudence and self-preservation," cannot be trusted to respond that way. But Iranians are not suicidal. They know that they could be wiped out in a retaliatory attack. And Krauthammer neglected to mention that only the U.S. has used the Bomb. The real problem is the tyranny of the established nuclear powers that threaten, bully and invade nonnuclear nations.
Reem Nasr
South Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.

Blood Sport
Re "The talented Torero" [March 27], on matador Mehdi Savalli, the up-and-coming star of Spanish bullfighting: How can Time, a respected magazine, publish a story on such a despicably brutal pastime? Its fans are sadistic, inhumane and intent on continuing a medieval tradition of blood sport. Shame on you for glorifying such horror. Nowhere in the article was there any mention of the ethical debate over bullfighting or the Spanish cities that have banned it!
Ingrid Martens
Brussels