I refer to Never forget ... the day the Secret Service failed JFK (November 21).
When John F Kennedy was alive, I did not know that he was a great man. I remember seeing his photograph in the newspaper, but all I knew then was that he was the head of a government.
In 1962, I memorised the spelling of his name in case I was asked about him in an eighth-grade “general knowledge” session.
In 1963, he got shot in Dallas. Overnight, JFK became more than a general knowledge question for me; he became a passion.
At 13, I skipped meals and films to save enough money to buy every book written by or about him.
His inaugural address, in which he beseeched his people to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”, became a classic. In every essay and elocution competition during my school days, I would quote a few words from one of his speeches.
Over the years, the intensity of his memories diminished. But his name always evoked magic, youth and vision.
Then, in 2008, I went to study at Harvard near Boston. On a free day, I stole away to the library and museum of the leader who had mesmerised me as a child.
His inaugural speech, which had fired me as a 13-year-old, was being sold as a poster. I bought a copy, had it framed, and it now hangs in my home.
Rajendra K Aneja, Dubai
Hopes for a fresh start
I refer to the front-page news article GCC warily welcomes Tehran's overtures (December 4).
Some might think that what unites Iran and the Gulf Arab nations is far greater than the elements that differentiate them, but to me the differences are no less significant.
The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, might offer reassurances over his country’s nuclear programme and attempt to clear the image that Tehran backs the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, but the question is how and when he will be working to strengthen cooperation with important and influential GCC countries for the benefit of the region?
I have doubts over Mr Zarif’s negotiations in recent months with western countries that led to the November 24 landmark deal between Iran and major powers on nuclear programmes.
Will Gulf Arab states fully benefit from Iran’s deal in Geneva? If yes, then how and when?
Let’s hope that President Hassan Rouhani and his colleagues will be able to genuinely improve relations with neighbouring countries and open a new chapter with the Gulf region – for the first time since the 1979 revolution that led to the downfall of the Pahlavi monarchy.
Gaye Caglayan Budak, Abu Dhabi
UAE’s brainstorm session will work
The editorial Important steps towards reform of education (December 5) was thought-provoking.
The Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid, has called on every citizen of the UAE to come forward to join a brainstorming session on health and education reforms.
These are two major issues and I have no doubt this endeavour will be successful.
K Ragavan, India
Delhi voters are seeking change
As you reported, the result of the New Delhi elections will be declared soon (Third option shakes up traditional rivalry in Delhi elections, December 3).
Inflation is the biggest issue and one on which both the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are trying to capitalise. People, especially the youth, are tired of the ruling Congress party.
The AAP's idealism is like a wafting fresh air for them. P Dominic, Dubai
Kim Jong-un is isolating himself
I am commenting on Shadi Ghanim’s editorial cartoon (December 4), which shows the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, sitting with military officials.
There is one empty chair, suggesting the possible dismissal of his powerful uncle, Jang Song-thaek.
The cartoon conveys the message clearly: North Korea is like the former Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, who got rid of every person he did not like – even his own family.
Slowly but surely he was all on his own, because he had thousands executed, sent to the Siberian gulags or imprisoned. Brigitte von Bulow, Abu Dhabi