Michelle Rust, age 9, of Spokane, Wash., for her question:

WHY DO WE HAVE WARS?

All sensible people wonder and worry about wars. They know that a war hurts everybody, and when it's all over nobody really wins anything worth having. Yet warfare, it seems, goes on and on. Maybe it's something to do with growing up. As we know, small children tend to bash each other around for no good reason. Later, they learn more sensible ways to get along with each other.

The human race also is still growing up. After all, civilized history began only a few thousand years ago. For a long time everybody thought that a war was a grand and glorious event. But gradually a few wiser people learned better. Nowadays, lots of sensible people want to end wars forever and ever. In a few thousand years, or maybe sooner, everybody will learn better  and that will be that.