Buchman's birthdays were always important to him and he enjoyed this one in particular, as the friends around him helped him to celebrate and messages reached him from all parts of the world. An editorial in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung read, '... Frank Buchman puts a moral diplomacy ... alongside the political diplomacy of the nations ... As a moral ambassador Frank Buchman enjoys, far beyond all national borders, almost unlimited trust. His selfless role of mediator, mostly unseen by the public, is again and again called upon. This man who without sentimentality, without dramatic oratorical gifts, nevertheless fascinates his hearers, has become more and more the conscience of the world.'1

This new illness, however, still further restricted him, and the access which his growing whole-time force had to him. More and more information was filtered through several minds both on its way to him and back, and sometimes got distorted en route. A first reaction to a report about someone's actions, perhaps incomplete, might be passed on with a harshness which he would not necessarily have displayed if he had seen the person himself. Perhaps the shielding by those near him was overdone; or in his weakness he himself ordered it. One whole-time worker of twenty years' standing, wanting to discuss sincere disagreements, left his work because he failed eight times to get through the protective screen. A young woman who believed that her ill mother needed her in another country received a long letter signed in his name telling her in strong terms that her place was to care for certain Asian girls at an assembly and she should trust her mother to God. Yet when, two weeks later, she eventually got in to see him personally, he said, 'Go at once,' and clearly did not recall any such letter being sent. Whether this was his forgetfulness, or whether a letter was written for him on a first, unconsidered response, is not clear. A real problem of communication, difficult for all concerned, developed. In the days before his stroke, every contact had been personal and straightforward; in the intervening years such contact had become more limited; now it was even more sparse, and some of his old friends at times felt cut off.

This difficulty was magnified by a great increase in the numbers of whole-time workers in the late fifties. Buchman still originated many fruitful initiatives, and was as effective and compassionate as ever when meeting people - especially people new to him - face to face. But it was impossible for him to know the personal situation of his many hundreds of whole-time colleagues throughout the world, and mistakes regarding them became more frequent.

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