“A Time to Talk,” Friend, Jan. 1971, 31
A Time to Talk
There is a time to talk and a time to be quiet, a time to think, a .time to cry, a time to laugh, a time to smile, a time to go to bed, and a time to awaken. There is the right time and the wrong time for all kinds of things. As we grow older, we are continually reminded by those with whom we live, by our teachers, by our friends, even by our grandmothers, that we have done things that were right at the wrong time.
When is the right time? It takes only a little thought to decide just when the right time is to do anything. Even as you read these next few lines, you will recognize that it takes just a second more of your time to do the right thing at the right time. Suppose a friend rounds the corner at full speed, trips on a banana peel, and goes head over heels onto the sidewalk or grass. It’s pretty easy to laugh at how funny he looks as he goes twirling through the air. Sometimes we do laugh but stop suddenly when we see a cut head or a bleeding hand. Only then do we realize that this was the wrong time to laugh.
By putting oneself in the boots of the other person, we can learn when it is the right time to laugh, to smile, to cry, to ask, to wonder.