DELIVERING MEALS OFFERS GLIMPSE OF COMPASSION

To the editor:

Before 11 o'clock the morning of July 3, 16 of us gathered behind Southeast Hospital to pick up meals for about 90 of our fellow Cape Girardeau citizens who need the diet that hospitals prepare. The morning was hot. All of us had other tasks to do. But for an hour and a half or so the driver and the deliverer drove up and down the city following the routes given to them.

Our task took us to areas we had perhaps not seen and to house and apartments where open doors and colored stickers on the windows let us know we were expected. Sometimes a terse note gave additional information: "Both of these are blind," perhaps, or "Very hard of hearing."

My companion had been on this route last five years ago and was saddened to see how time had not forgotten any of the residents. I was happy to find several friends who only a short time ago were doing the work of the world and are not yet ready to stop. Impatiens and red roses adorned their yards. Many homes displayed flags this week. I did not see a single one upside-down.

I arrived home in time to hear the late noon news and to be reminded of the ever-incresing violence that we do to each other. But should you be a cynic and claim that everything is getting worse, don't be too noisy about your beliefs until you have seen Meals On Wheels in operation.

PETER HILTY

Cape Girardeau