At What Price...Happiness

     Most people are thinking Thanksgiving, families, football and who to invite over or where we will go. Many of those same people can't afford it. The world is quickly turning into an old newspaper called the Enquirer. Okay maybe not really a"newspaper". As a kid I heard it was called a rag paper. But the funny thing is, I remember stories blazing on the front page showing images of very young children looking like very old people:yes, progeria as we now know it's called. But then adults would say, boy that paper will make up anything for a buck. There were stories about two headed cows, aliens, area 51 and so much more which is now known today as truth.
       Then pedophiles were completely ignored and the victims were, nine out of ten made out to be liars. But I remember those pedophiles. There was Casper the shoemaker, short, dirty from shoe polish with an accent and Mr. Sheen , a well-dressed Irish neighbor who people said was such a nice guy, the candy store owner, a sloppy disgusting pig looking man and of course fathers and brothers on the block. It was all so familiar.
        What makes it worse? The kids who it happened to didn't couldn't and wouldn't talk about it. Every day it was there but the pretense of happiness was better to live with, not easier, just better. No one knew who it happened to so who could you trust to tell. There was one man, a father in the neighborhood who we all knew about. They were Peurto Rican. I remember my mother talking to the mom who was somewhat slow mentally, and her son and one daughter was an almost replica. But one daughter was different. She was of average intelligence and pretty.
Her father was a very handsome man, friendly, talked to many and like most perverts, people thought he was a nice guy-that is until the cops came one day and took him away.
       His daughter was pregnant, and he went away to prison for  a long time. When he got out he divorced his wife and his daughter and they moved in together. Was that happiness for her? What did she sacrifice? Everything.
          Happiness is like the ocean. It comes in waves, and sometimes washes enough old stuff away that the good lasts longer each time. We have to help that goodness along. Just like that neighbor kid, we were told to mind our own business. She was our business. When do we learn and what does it take to get involved where we're told we don't belong.
           If the waves come too fast, you have to step backwards. Remember that cold feeling of getting wet when you're not ready?
    Help someone. Don't always mind your own business, get involved and yes be careful. Have a good Thanksgiving. Try not to gossip about people because you don't know if you're being gossiped about too and don't pass the buck, unless it's to a charity, or a church that is really doing good, and most of all if you think you can't do anything, you can pray. It's still free in these United States. Sleep Well:)