Article April 17, 1995 Issue

What's news?

Our attention was caught recently by a headline over a column by Mara Leveritt, senior editor of the weekly newspaper the Arkansas Times (November 4, 1994). It read: "WHAT'S NEWS? We may have it upside down."

Ms. Leveritt wrote: "Some of the best stories—most, maybe— never get reported in newspapers or on the television news. Scenes of profound drama and import often unfold unnoticed, except by a handful of participants and maybe a few observers, some of whom walk away from the event with their lives forever changed."

In a conversation with a friend, Ms. Leveritt had been reminded how much of what's essential in life goes on, day after day, beyond the notice of the media. The friend's mother had been hospitalized, and late one night as her friend sat by her mother's bedside praying, she was joined by one of the Sisters of Charity, whose order owns and administers the hospital. Although of different faiths— one a Christian Scientist, and one a Roman Catholic—the two women shared the vigil, praying and talking together for several hours.

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