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jan 18
no 14

dear mother, dad and sis

The other day I had a little business to attend to at a nearby hospital. The hospital is situated a few miles away from the dispensary, and further inland. To avoid being lonely on the journey, I took a jeep along for company and we both went rattling merrily on our way.

Soon, we were laboriously climbing upwards among the craggy hills, along the steep, winding, treacherous new guinea roads. Up and up we went, and as we ascended the whole countryside began to unfold beneath us. Finally, we came to the top of a very high hill--- the highest hill in all the countryside around. The view beneath was so compelling that I just had to stop and gaze upon it for a while.

It was evening, and the sun was beginning to descend in a red glow. As the refulgent clouds passed over it lazily, great patterns of shadow and sunlight followed them across the hills and the valleys. The hills stretched up and down in every direction ---- rising gently in one place, steeply in another --- sloping downwards and dipping in and out of the ravines and meadows. All over was a deep, luxurious green, wildly sprinkled with many colored flowers. Some parts were even spreads of velvety grass -- others were dense clusters of giant trees that enclose the jungle. Far in the distance, moving out from the edge of the land was the illimitable expanse of the blue pacific. All was quietude and motionlessness, except for the graceful soaring and swooping of the birds. All was peace and pastoral beauty.

While I was thus standing, from behind me came the whispering of a voice-- so low that it could barely be heard-- like a fading echo from a far away place. And the voice said ----- Here, indeed, is the true beauty of the earth and the reason for which it is made. Here is the timeless beauty that existed long before the coming of man -- long before he grew and became numerous, and hungry with the desires that torment him. Here it lies as it was before he tore it asuner to build his roads and his citieis and to feed his insatiable appetites. Here alone, can a sould know lasting peace and fulfillment. What more could you possibly wish for than this which lies before you, now?

Before I realized it, I was actually answering. I do wish for something more, I said. I wish for a nickel --- a dirty, worn nickel. I wish I could put that nickel into the slot, and turn the turnstile, and walk into the subway. I wish