Dear Editor:  I hope the following passage, from Father. M. Raymond’s masterpiece, “Spiritual Secrets of a Trappist Monk,” written 60 years ago and perhaps more appropriate now than then, might offer some opportunity for reflection as we enter into the final months of this peculiar election cycle:

“Count the people you know who do not think ready-made thoughts, speak ready-made words, voice ready-made opinions, and even feel ready-made emotions. How many people do you know who do not follow ready-made political platforms, accept ready-made economic programs, and have as their life aim some ready-made financial goal? No wonder one witty Frenchman said, ‘These people do not think or speak – they simply echo.’”

John J. Cox
Woodsidk, N.J.