Sometimes bad things happen to good people

I remember one summer day all the mothers were whispering and talking amonst themselves. The air was filled with anger and saddness. Being only 6 or 7 years old, nobody was ready to share what the problem was and why everyone was out and upset. Life was much easier in the 50's as you can imagine. People were generally kind, and did the right things only because that is the way people acted then. A handshake meant as much as a notary seal. Honesty was never challanged and it just was taken for granted. People were basically honest. I never knew anyone that lied, or cheated, or did harm!...You could count on people, you could trust people and you just knew people were helpful. We all treated each one including our neighbor as we would ourselves. We knew our neighbors we took food we cooked over to them when they didn't feel well. It was a totally different world...On this particular day, it seems one of the boys in the trailer park had been missing the entire day...His parents were looking for him everywhere and nobody could find him...He was a young teenager boy. He played release with us every summer night and was just a normal kid. Now he had disappeared...I also remember the fire trucks that had come and parked at the bottom of the parking lot that led into the woods. They were on a search for this boy...the fireman loaded with flashlights disappeared into the woods..The search had begun!..The mothers and fathers waited for word of the boys welfare. The kids continued to play and didn't pay any attention to all the upset of the day...Then I remember one of the mothers began to cry loudly...all the other mothers consoled her with kind words. It seemed someone had tied the boy to a tree deep into the woods..left him there all day. It seemed the older boys took him tied him up and did perverted things to him...tortured him with sticks and did sexual things to hurt him. The fireman found the boy, tied, bleeding and unconcious on the tree....The entire place was in shock, who could have done a thing like this...This kind of thing never happened, never. People wouldn't have thought of being so cruel to another human being!!..This boy was innocent, a person victimized by torture...He was taken to the hospital...All the mothers were appauled that anything like this could happen...Suddenly, everyone was on high alert for safety. The bubble had been broken..Innocence has passed...Now that trust broken. A new word was about to usher in...Now bad things would happen to good people...The seal was broken...Trust no longer ruled and reigned...It had begun!!! Nothing anymore was sacred!!!....Evil sewed its way into our little neighborhood!!!

A parade unlike the Rose Bowl parade

When I was probably in second or third grade we still were living in West Mifflin and I was attending Walnut Grove School. I can still recall what the school looked like as well as my teachers. My second grade teacher was Miss Bashista..I imagine she was never married because she was older and had a bit of grey hair mixed in with the brown.. My third grade teacher was Miss Manandice. She was quiet, tall, thin and in her forties. For some reason back then, teachers were not married...thus getting the name..."Old school marm, or spinster." Most of my teachers were not married but as I got older and graduated into high school them were.

One summer day, I guess we were all bored and found nothing much to do, someone came up with the idea of all the kids in the trailer park getting together and instrumenting a parade. It might have been my older sister because she seemed to have a large part of telling everyone what they were going to do! However, we worked and worked on this parade. The route it would take, who would be which character, and costumes. The theme was every holiday in the year....I think back now and think, "This was pretty ingenious." It took weeks to work up costumes for Santa Claus, Father Time, and the Uncle Sam costume was really good. I wish I had a photo or two of the parade, but the only one I have is in my mind. The person in front had a big sign...announcing the parade. No doubt it was a Sunday afternoon when most everyone were home. Back in the fifties, people never worked on Sunday. It was the day of rest and everyone did just that. No stores were open, everything was shut up and stopped until Monday morning. My character in the parade was to be Susan B. Anthony....she was the one that fought for the right for women to vote...I remember I had a big hat and a green striped blouse. I wore white gloves. I can recall in my minds eye exactly what I looked like and how we looked marching down the street. When we passed the few people that lined the street. They clapped at our marvel of inspiration. There is just something about seeing a child perform, something that an adult forgets they have. A true sense of imagination, a wonderous mind of "can do!"...Children are wonders of God, he gave them the fresh innocent love that only can dwell inside. A wonder of people, places and things. The joy of being able to say exactly what is on your mind, even if it is insulting. It is always taken and enjoyed from that child like mind....Somewhere along the path of adulthood we all lose that. Some place along life, that child like faith is looked down on...People have raised the bar. People have destroyed the innocence of that child like faith.....If an adult would say things like a child they would be held accountable and made known to be insulting or crude. How sad, children are ingenious, children are the future!!

A New Year-1946-2009

This is a new year..I will be 63 this January and know that everyday I live is closer to the last. So I better get busy because I have so much to tell..NEW is all about life, the newness of life is in Christ but I don't want to get ahead of myself. So back to when I was a kid!...When I was small, New Years Eve had a different meaning..In the early fifties people felt new hope. The war was over and our country was on a new track. New inventions, new ways of life. Old things are now passed away and now women could stay home with their families and men worked...Unlike during the war..people stood in line for sugar, gas was rationed and people live everyday as if could be their last! That was over now, finished, everyone had new hope to move on. That is why there was such a baby boom, women wanted to get out of the factories and back in the kitchen. Therefore the apron was a new and most popular attire of clothing...Women baked, cooked, canned, and cleaned with joy! It was their place, a place they desired. Men felt like the bread winner and had a sense of pride that our country was back on track. We had conquered and been through another World War. Men came home bent and broken but with a new heart and a new sense of pride..Life was good again babies and more babies were born to be nurtured in their homes that now would be rebuilt. Life reinvested, children happy to play. There was NO TV.. only on Saturday cartoons and all in black and white. Early morning cowboys...the good cowboys always wore the white hats! I remember so well getting up at 7 am and turning on the 5' screen to watch a black and white cowboy show. Saturday was TV day, morning only. The rest of the time a round circle overlaid in black circles and a piercing loud high hum...called the test pattern was shown. After a while a few new shows would appear in the evening...But they were few and far between..It was an amazing thing to be able to see anything right in your living room...on a small little screen. People were happy, things were simple and life was good! Men had jobs, women were happy to be Moms and kids played and ran and had no fear of the evil ways of the world..Most everyone was thankful to be alive. Happy for life and able to once again survive. It seems strange now to look back and see the difference in attitude for a people that were thankful for everything. An attitude of gentle suffering and life worth living....to the present attitude of being owed everything. Greedy and selfish. The "ME" attitude that people carry around so prevelantly now...So a NEW YEAR now a total time of complete celebration...A CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND SURVIVAL!! Thankful and joyful for a new beginning. Another chance to start over and make new!!