WASHINGTON -- When better than Christmas to remind us of old and lasting friendships? The cheerful holiday cards with kind messages and phone calls remind us of the meaningful past.

A new book by Doris S. Platt of Salt Lake City, titled, "Friendship -- Bread for the Journey," is a compilation of reflections on friendship by a few celebrities and other people -- young and old -- who relate their experiences about others who have touched and influenced their lives.

Platt dedicated her timely book: "To my friends, whose companionship enriches and sustains me."

The anecdotes are moving, sentimental and philosophical. They also are sad when close friends lose contact with each other.

Evangelist Billy Graham wrote: "The subject is very relevant for our times when religious extremism, nationalism and terrorism are destroying the very foundations of human civilization. It is my deep conviction that true friendship is possible -- through faith in Jesus Christ who taught us to love each other and be a friend to the needy."

Actor Charlton Heston described his close friendship with the late actor, the taciturn Gary Cooper.

"Like film, with its images of light and shadow, very often friendship speaks most eloquently without superficial dialogue," Heston said.

Heston said both he and Cooper were shy men. "Still, unlikely as it seems, we became friends."

Holocaust historian Elie Wiesel wrote in his book "Gates of the Forest" that friendship "marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendships never anything but sharing.

It is to a friend that you communicate the awakening of desire, the birth of the vision or a terror, the anguish of seeing the sun disappear or finding that order and justice are no more. That's what you can talk about with a friend."

Primate scholar Jane Goodall said among the "super friends" in her life was her mother Vanne who supported her childhood dream of going to live with wild animals and write books about them.

Goodall said her mother volunteered to accompany her to the forests of Gambia National Park in Tanzania when she was offered an opportunity to study wild chimpanzees.

She said that as the years rolled by, "It was Vanne who provided support whenever the going got tough, with whom I discussed every problem, every success."

She said her mother's passing at the age of 94 "left a void that can never be filled."

British statesman Benjamin Disraeli is quoted as saying: "The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own." Kent M. Seal, a dentist, said, "Making friendships is like a seed planted in good earth. One needs to nourish and cultivate that friendship for it to grow. Once grown and strong it can withstand hard times and will never die."

Jeffrey Meer, executive director of the United Nations Association, said: "I once had a friend who found me when I was lost and brought me home.

"I once had a friend, who, without even asking, brought me hot chicken soup when I was ill and all alone.

"I once had a friend who unhesitatingly volunteered to write a letter of recommendation for me for a job even though he didn't agree with the organization's viewpoint."

Meer cited several other instances of kindness in his life and said: "For all these friends, and for the many others who have helped, guided, provided and otherwise supported me through the years, I am and will always be deeply grateful. A world without friendship would be a cold, lonely and desolate place."

Nicole H. Castroman, a radio talk show producer, said: "Friendship is love; love is friendship. It connects us to everything that matters. Without it we would be adrift."

Scott Williams, an Australian stand-up comedian, and his wife Angie wrote of being stranded in Munich, Germany, when the show they traveled with collapsed, leaving them with little money and no ticket home.

One day Angie could no longer cope. She sat there in the middle of a Munich square crying when she heard a soft German male voice. She looked up with tears rolling down her face to see a handsome and very smartly dressed young man standing above her.

The man -- whom they came to know only as Echardt, a successful young businessman -- befriended them, fed them and gave them the fare back to Australia.

Scott Williams said: "It was this friendship shown by a stranger that causes us to this day, some 24 years later, to have some barometer by which to measure our own actions."

Angie Williams said they were never able to trace Echardt but that she knows that "kindness and friendship are bound to have followed him all the days of his life."

I am sure most people can remember acts of kindness in their lives from friends and strangers. Especially at Christmastime, we remember.

(Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address hthomas@hearstdc.com)