The fifth of May

It seems that most members of society can and will find excuses to partake of debauchery, drunkenness, parties.  Wine women and song wine women and song.  And I say, let them.  I do not begrudge men and women their pleasures.  We all partake of pleasure where we can find it.  We must.  If you don't smile... if you don't feel joy, pure and unadulterated, then what is life worth living?  There is a fine line we all walk to stay sane.  For some, the path is wider than others... and for others, the path is so narrow one word, one gesture can send you over the edge.  For some of us, joy is a phone call away, a loved one's voice, seeing a friend every day, having a game night every month.  For others... joy is a foreign concept.  Pleasure, certainly we all feel at some point, perhaps something simple like a drink of cool water on a hot day, or a good joke.  But joy?

For still others of us, even happiness is a fleeting thing.  When our days are filled with bitterness... with disgust... when we are surrounded by hatred directed at us for no better reason than that we are different, that we hold different values, we put stock in different things.  This makes us inferior.  Sometimes this animosity originates in those we love, who are closest to our hearts.  Sometimes, through no fault of our own, someone that should support and accept us becomes our enemy.  That kind of non stop pain can, over time, corrode a psyche to the shattering point.  It's so easy for us to hate, for us to be cruel, even evil.  We don't even realize it.

So for everyone that's ever thought they were better than someone else.  For anyone who has ever said a malicious word out of spite, jealousy, envy, or anger.  I forgive you.  It happens.  I've been guilty of it too.  However.  Realize what you have done.  Realize the pain you've cause.  Maybe to you it was a sarcastic comment, or a harmless 'teasing', or maybe you even thought it was necessary, a kick in the pants to motivate someone.  Consider, though, what it is to them.  Think before you speak.  Be thankful for what you have, and realize how unfortunate some others are.

I don't have a loved one to lean on.  I don't have friends nearby to escape the harsh realities of life with.  I don't have a family that supports me.  Words hurt, often worse than any blow or cut ever could.

I don't tell you this as a sob story.  I tell you this in the hope that maybe, just maybe, my little nearly anonymous plea to the sea of electronics that make up the internet might touch even one soul, and at some point might even make someone's life a little bit happier, a little bit more joyful.

Farewell dear reader, and may your life be far far more joyful than mine, forever.