Senior Scribe
A-maze-ing!!
By Mona Lease

Hi, all! "Betty Grable was always into drugs. She deserved to die." "Hugh Heffner bandied about with girls young enough to be his granddaughters. He'll probably get a disease. (He can afford it, though.)" "Those girls are gold diggers. They should get a real job like the rest of us." "He's had six DUIs so far. And I heard he was into drugs....lock up your stuff. "Those people" steal to get their drugs" "I won't go to his funeral - he's a child molester." "She won't listen to anyone. I've preached and preached. It's no use...she runs with the "wrong crowd" - I'm surprised she's not pregnant or worse." "I never liked Estelle Getty. ..she was always uppity...like she was better than us." "Johnny's wife actually went to see him in prison - the entire time he was there...And he held up a bank!" "Robbie's brother died of cancer. When he was young he tried to cash stolen checks. It was him or his brother. I remember - they came in to the store. I did not cash them. Later I looked and another girl had cashed them and they were returned - nonsufficient funds."

I've watched the above - spoken with a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other hand. I've listened as a guy that beats his wife puts down the guy who cheats on his taxes - who puts down the woman with three children with three different Daddies - who puts down the woman who discusses her plans for a day with a girlfriend with her husband first - who puts down the man who only lives with the Mother of his children - who puts down the woman who said that the woman who died from the drugs deserved to die...which puts us back to where we started with this column.

Sparing you the obvious here concerning gossip and how it can destroy - usually with the "top this" form...and always with a few lies sprinkled in disguised as "embellishments" - I draw your attention to this: Just because alcohol and cigarettes are legal...are the resultant circumstances less drastic? You know - maybe cancer or emphysema, etc. are more treatable because it was just "legal stuff" that caused it? How do these people gain their information? - like the number of DUIs. How does it come to be that the wife who stands by her husband in prison is wrong? To me - the above is a maze that keeps twisting and turning. Around every "blind curve" is someone with a cigarette, drink, illicit drugs, prescription pills, etc. - all with an "opinion" resulting in who should do what. Why does it look to me like in all of the above scenarios - someone is withholding love? - or the idea that someone so "deranged" should deserve love?

So - if there were some sort of "Standard" to follow concerning these situations - would we recognize it as such? Would we follow It? And - would we accept responsibility for our actions to make It work for more than say - a day or a week? The above truly is A-maze-ing!!

Remember the kiddies and our service people. Take good care of the furry and feathered ones out there. Be safe and healthy. See ya next time. Ever Toodles!! MONA