Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 50

readings

commencement
The Value of Friendship

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by Dr. Arthur J. Ammann ’58 with
Barbara McLennan ’60

A casual meeting of old friends at a Wheaton College
class reunion set the wheels in motion for this book, which
challenges readers to discover the value of the “invisible”
person, and to participate in transformation.

INVISIBLE
I am invisible—a blur without form—
like a blue vapor mist on a damp, foggy morn.
I am timid and frightened, sort of broken inside,
I am wounded and hurting, so why wouldn’t I hide?
I stay near the edges—keep out of the light,
if people don’t see me they won’t know my plight.
But oh, how I yearn for a kind touch or a word,
some little sign that perhaps I am heard.
My name is Refugee, Orphan, or Stray—
the fifth of ten children, or someone betrayed.
I’m divorced, I am homeless, I have missing teeth;
my skin betrays me of “foreign belief.”
I’m a bell-hop, a bar maid, any person who serves—
a snap judgment decides if respect is deserved.
Many eyes look right through me not seeing my face,
though I ]