It was a good barn

　　We both gazed down the hill. Now all that was left of the barn was its cellar hole and its border of lilac shrubs.

　　My friend said he had turned the incident over and over in his mind, and finally came to recognize some pa rallels between building a barn and building a friendsh ip: no matter how strong you are, how notable your atta inments, you have enduring significance only in your re lationship to others.

　　"To make your life a sound structure that will serv e others and fulfill your own potential," he said, "You have to remember that strength, however massive, can't endure unless it has the interlocking support of others . Go it alone and you'll inevitably tumble."

　　"Relationships have to be cared for," he added, "li ke the roof of a barn. Letters unwritten, thanks unsaid , confidences violated, quarrels unsettled- all this ac ts like rainwater seeping into the pegs, weakening the link between the beams."

　　My friend shook his head. "It was a good barn. And it would have taken very little to keep it in good repa ir. Now it will probably never be rebuilt."

　　Later that afternoon I got ready to leave. "You wou ldn't like to borrow my phone to make a call, I don't s uppose? " he asked.

　　"Yes," I said, "I think I would. Very much."