What joy!

Joy seems to be in short supply in the adult world nowadays. It's hard to find a smiling face in the city crowd. If you asked anyone for an explanation, he or she would probably tell of harsh circumstances, sickness, or unhappiness that have all too easily obscured the carefree enjoyment that filled earlier years. But joy doesn't depend on circumstances.

Jeremy Regard, a welder from a village at the foot of the Jura Mountains, apparently knew this truth. Jeremy was sent to a concentration camp in January 1944 with six thousand other Frenchmen. Here he found joy even in the midst of horror. Jeremy loved to tell stories, but the one he came back to often was the time he had been to America to meet with his fellow Christian Scientists.

Jacques Lusseyran, a survivor of the camp, tells of the indelible impression this man made on him: "Jeremy was an example: he found joy in the midst of Block 57. He found it during moments of the day where we found only fear. And he found it in such great abundance that when he was present we felt it rise in us. Inexplicable sensation, incredible even, there where we were: joy was going to fill us.

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March 28, 1988
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