By: Alvin E. Youngquist

Veterans Administration Hospital

Denver, Colorado



AND SO PASSED THE SIXTH DAY



And so passed the sixth day of the week. Then came the Sabbath, Sunday, the day many look forward to a drive through the mountains in high-powered automobiles, a trip to the beach, a round of golf, or perhaps just a quiet day at home relaxing, enjoying a visit from the loved ones and those dear to them. My most cherished wish today is to know someone will come to see me.



There was a time in my life when I thought and even remarked that people, friends, and enemies alike, were just a matter of fact. I took them for granted. "Do you want to see a picture of my sweetheart?" I would ask my friends. Then I'd show them a silver dollar or whip out a fifty dollar bill and say there is the best friend I ever had, in fact, my only friend. That's all very well and I have learned these material friends and sweethearts are not the real stuff after all. They come and go and are very fickle; they let you down when you most need them.

Today I re-read the two previous paragraphs and came to the conclusion that the only important words in them are in the last sentence in the first paragraph: "to know someone will come to see me".









By: Toonis B. Williams

College Park, Georgia



MORE OF THE SAME



As a friend and I were driving through the piney wood section of the deep South, we came to a modern highway which had recently opened up a remote back-woods settlement.

Near his home, a life-long resident had built a filling station and lunch room. There we stopped for dinner and enjoyed very much areal home-cooked meal, which consisted only of the products of his farm.



It was plain food, but there were huge platters of country ham and fried chicken; large dishes of turnip greens, snap beans, okra, corn, tomatoes, and other garden-fresh vegetables; homemade jam, jellies, and preserves of every fruit and berry in his orchard. It was all placed, family style, on a large table where everyone could help himself.



Although my friend had generously sampled everything in sight, he asked the owner who was passing through the room, "What have you for dessert?" After casting a puzzled glance down the table, the old gentle man replied, "Wal, I hardly know; Maggie has some mighty fine biled cabbage back thar in the kitchen".







By: Charles Drainer, VA Hospital Chillicothe



INSPIRATION



I softly whisper your dear name, when I am feeling blue, when wretched doubts assail my soul, and comforts are so few.



For you possess that kind of faith, that's solidly engrained, A sweet and tempered way of life that's true and calmly trained.



A radiance of softly spun gold, a comfort without fame, that's why, when I am feeling blue, I always call your name.