Defining a martyr

Re “Silver screen or suicide vest,” Column One, Jan. 13

I read with much dismay about the Lebanese teenager aspiring to be a so-called martyr. She may not know any better, but I would expect a journalist to ask the most important question this young woman will ever hear in her life: “Do you not know the true definition of the word ‘martyr?’ ”

A true martyr is an innocent person dying for his or her beliefs. Those who kill themselves to kill others are not martyrs but murderers.

Socorro Varela

Los Angeles