Today, the readers write.

Several recent columns have provoked a noticeable response from readers. Here is a sampling of their comments, without any of my own. I had my shot, now it is their turn.

After a column on the different kind of fear engendered by the sniper in the "white van," Martha Simons, an artist from Baltimore, wrote that the children she works with are "growing up in a similar state of terror which is the 'status quo.'

"Their schools are not being locked down, their names do not make headlines when they are the victims of homicide. Rather than feeling afraid and vulnerable, I perceive that they have accepted this very sad situation.

"Recently, a group of 7-year-old girls explained their game of 'pretend' to me. 'I'm the mother, she's the daughter, and she's the robber.'"

The same column suggested that the sniper's method of killing everyday people doing everyday things in everyday communities might prove to be more effective at cowing Americans than blowing up architectural symbols, and several readers were alarmed.

"Having it spelled out when it isn't a reality yet, and possibly putting the idea in the wrong people's heads, wasn't really necessary," wrote Liz Herman of Columbia in an e-mail.

"For your own mental health's sake (not to mention the rest of the folks who might be affected), I truly hope (no sarcasm - I really do hope this, for all involved) that such a thing never occurs because you will never know if ill-judged words may have triggered it, or whether they thought of it on their own."

Anna Marie Ugarte, who described herself as a nurse, mother of 10 and grandmother of 19, castigated me for showcasing my fear in a newspaper column.

"Come on Mrs. Reimer, you are scared, I am scared and a lot of people are scared but we expect more from our professional journalists.

"This is to me like a doctor panicking in the ER, or a professional RN sitting down crying in the middle of a problem on the hall."

In a column on column ideas that other people suggest to me, I wrote that a friend suggested that I express my outrage at the fact that repeat drug offender Robert Downey Jr. was appearing in print ads for shoes favored by kids.

A number of readers wrote to express their outrage at me for being so intolerant of someone struggling with addiction.

"If your child receives a message of drugs by simply looking at a photo of [Downey], then something you are doing as a parent needs to be examined," wrote Renee in an e-mail.

"I have nothing but admiration and respect for him," wrote Suzanne Purcell, a teacher from Texas. "He has a disease, Ms. Reimer. It's not a character flaw. If you can get a grip on this fact of life, you'll be a better, more compassionate human being and writer."

"He has always been open and honest about his problems unlike many public figures," wrote Jennifer Killingsworth of Tallahassee, Fla.

"Insult the people who glorify drug use, not the ones like Downey who are battling to overcome their addictions and have openly said that it's not a positive way to live," she continued.

"The person you so casually dismissed as someone who could send the wrong message to kids is actually the one person who's best equipped to give them the right message."

And, in a column in which I argued that high school athletes should be allowed to practice and play their games despite fears about the sniper because they were statistically safer than they would be riding in cars, Ryan Groves, a student at Trent College, wrote:

"What you said in that article is horrible. How can you say that kids should play on when this monster is running around the streets hunting down people? Yes, the kids must hate to not play sports for weeks, but is it really worth a human life!!!!!!"