You were warned!

You were warned.

You sat in fourth grade.  You saw what happened to Melissa  Sullivan.   There were always food stains on her clothes.  She waddled more than walked.  Her well meaning mother pampered her with Twinkies.  The teasing and bullying only made her eat more.  By high school, Mellias was a lonely social outcast.   By thirty, she was diabetic.  Last year, driving by, you think you saw her in a wheelchair or maybe you heard she had a heart attack.  Melissa served as a good example because you didn’t want to be anything like Melissa.

You were warned.

You lived in the neighborhood.  You saw what happend to Cindy Maccini.  Cindy had a screw loose.  She did whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.  She drank.  She pushed. She slapped.  She raced.  Manners meant nothing.   Common sense meant nothing.   Work was for suckers.  Laws were for other people.  The teacher, the counselor, the probation officer and the priest were laughable.  Cindy had a couple of kids before he was twenty.  At twenty-one, she crashed his car and died.

You were warned.

You knew the Hamilton family.  The parents were uninvolved or what they’d call permissive.  Their lucky kids played without rules.  So the kids didn’t do homework but did do drugs.  Without a curfew, the kids stayed out very late.  The kids liked to smoke and were unafraid to experiment with all kinds of sex.  The whole family favored tribal tattoos and nipple piercings.   Mama Hamiliton never worked preferring to stay at home with her kids who were never at home.   Papa Hamiliton worked sporadic odd jobs until the foreclosure.  Then, the family scattered and disappeared.

You were warned.

You see how people act who go to church and those who don’t.  You see what happens to people who work hard and those who are lazy.  You see what happens to students who study and students who don’t.  You see what happens to people who are generous and those who are greedy.  You see what happens to couch potatoes and to those who exercise.

You see how great families enjoy and how dysfunctional families destroy.

In the midst of the chaos of modern life, life is warning you.