Inside Story

It is nice to know that the human touch is not totally obsolete. The editorial on the possibilities for community via computer technology was hand-written by Bob Sabath while he was on vacation in Niagara, New York. (The manuscript was faxed to us-not a low-tech means of delivery, but still more tactile than e-mail.) Then, associate editor Jim Rice edited the article on "hard copy" (nearly unheard of in these days of computers) while watching his kids swim in their neighborhood pool! Sometimes we decide to do an article because of current events, sometimes to wrestle with issues that seem important to wrestle with, sometimes just because we want to. On other occasions, it is for more personal reasons. The topic of the "Close to Home" column by Ron Green-how a community can support a member who has lost a loved one-arose out of conversations that followed the death in June of Kathy Verhulst, the mother of our co-worker Kari Verhulst. Kelly Green, our editorial assistant intern, had accompanied her own mother, Dawn, through terminal illness to her death two-and-a-half years ago, and recommended her father, Ron, as a writer for the column. He graciously agreed. In large part because of the experience of his wife's death, Ron is now a hospital and hospice chaplain. Often we work in the middle of loss and struggle, and we know you must too. At those times, most of all, we realize how deeply grateful we are for the human touch-the relationships that are the source of our deepest strength, joy, and sorrow.