"Are you kidding?" asks Minna Ahlmann, of Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, in a Dec. 27 letter to the editor, referring to a Dec. 13 photo in Stars and Stripes. The photo accompanied an article from Mizan District, Afghanistan, about how U.S. troops were celebrating Christmas and locals were celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid.

The photo showed a knife-wielding villager who had just sacrificed a sheep. A younger man was shown holding down the sheep and the unlucky animal lay dead, its throat slashed and blood flowing freely from it.

Letter-writer Ahlmann complained that, first, the photo could "turn the stomachs" of ordinary folks who sit down with the paper at breakfast and, second, could be "disturbing to children," who are encouraged by many parents to read the newspaper.

Those are not the easiest precautions for editors to keep in mind as they present the day's news to their many and varied readers, especially in times like the present when wars and other forms of violence are so prevalent. One feels an obligation to bring home to readers in some form some of the more disturbing things that are happening in the world. The editor's constant question: How much to show in order to make readers grasp realities, without causing unnecessary revulsion?

Assistant Managing Editor Mary Bender, who was in charge for the issue in question, concedes the photo was graphic but adds that "it reflects the life and tradition of Muslims during Eid al-Adha, a holiday marking sacrifice in Islam."

That's a fair call, though in my opinion it would have been preferable to let words depict the scene, rather than the somewhat macabre photo. Animal sacrifices have been practiced by societies for centuries; I don't think all that blood was needed to show people what they look like.