Appreciation

* Thank you for publishing that beautiful commentary by Lea Fuchs Chayen, “When a Light in a Potato Pierced the Darkness” (Dec. 6). It is her story about her experience as a prisoner of the Nazis in October 1944, forced to work in a factory along with 31 other young women and girls.

As I read it, I cried. Having recently lost my dear wife, the article made me realize that we--all of us--need to appreciate what we have. Yes, we can grieve and be sad for what we have lost--as did the young women in the Nazi concentration camp who were forced into slave labor; but, at the same time, think about what we do have, cherish it and appreciate it--as did Chayen when she received a “lovely red handkerchief” as a (21st) birthday gift from “a 16-year-old girl with large, green-gray eyes . . . (who is) not with us any longer.”

GEORGE EPSTEIN

Los Angeles