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                   The Road Less Travelled  By:Manfred                      
Ĵ
                            INTRODUCTION                                    
 I recall the roads and avenues of life with every thought I think.  They   
 have shown me many pathways, many cities, many ways of life.  It is along  
 these roads that I have built myself, with no other camera than my mind to 
 capture the images and lessons seen.  There is a saying that those who've  
 travelled the roads owe a map to humanity that others may choose their     
 paths from a more defined and labeled viewpoint.  My maps are scratchy at  
 best, but I will place them here for whatever use they may be to anyone    
 who has the desire to travel the roads with foresight.  Bear in mind that  
Ŀ we often see that which we expect or desire to see.  What  
 AVATAR .  * . I have seen may not be a part of the road as you travel    
.  ONLINE .  . it.  I wish you a pleasant and learned journey.  M.        
 * .  SYSTEMS                                                             
.  .   .  .                 CHAPTER ONE:                                
(310)-838-8203                ------------                                
. * .   .  .     I call this road "Sharing", and I began my travel on   
 32 Lines! *   it at the age of 10.  Growing up in an extremely poor      
 MANY Extras!. neighborhood, by this time I had seen and experienced a    
.Sysop:Nancyt4 poverty level that most never know.  But children don't    
 know the difference, not really, until they have grown.    


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                   The Road Less Travelled  By:Manfred                      
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Ŀ This was the day a 5 year old child would help a 10 year   
 CHATTERBOX!   old grow.                                                  
     BBS                                                                  
(818)-995-6959      We sat on the school bus, the little sweet 5 year old 
ĳ kindergardener and I, next to each other.  I was reading   
 14.4/V32 for  my book and she began talking.  It was an hours ride back  
 Subscribers!  to the inner city where we lived.  Not being a rude child, 
PC Pursuitable I engaged in conversation with her.  She was a perky one,  
   4.5 Gig!    and she told me all about her class and her home, her mom  
FIDOnet Access and the daddy who left and she didn't remember.  I asked   
 her how she liked school, and other polite conversations.  
 We had just passed the Easter holiday, and so I asked her what the Easter  
 Bunny brought her.  Her perkiness ended, and she said in a rather solemn   
 tone "The Easter Bunny didn't visit my house this year."  Now I was old    
 enough to know that the Easter Bunny wasn't real, but this little girl was 
 not.  I didn't know what to say to her.  Was she so poor that her mother   
 couldn't even afford an Easter basket?  It nearly brought tears to my eyes 
 to think she was missing childhood joys even moreso than I or the rest of  
 the ghetto kids I knew.  I thought quick and said "Maybe he just missed    
 your house or maybe he lost your address."  She seemed to take that at     

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                   The Road Less Travelled  By:Manfred                      
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Ŀ some level of hope, almost as if she knew better.  She     
 EEEEK BYTES  didn't expect to have these things.  It bewildered my      
              brain.  She seemed so much older than even I at that       
 "The Honest  moment.  And somehow I desperately wanted to give her a    
 Technicians" little piece of the childhood everyone should be allowed.  
   Lv Msg:                                                               
 310-371-4260      When I got home that day, I told my mother about the  
              incident.  I also asked if I could take some of my candy   
 PO Box #331  to her.  My mother wasn't sure it was a good idea, "Her    
 MB, CA 90266 mother might not want anyone knowing how poor they are."   
 she told me.  I didn't really understand that, after all,  
 we were all poor...weren't we?  But my mother helped me make a basket of   
 construction paper woven together, and we placed as much candy as we were  
 able to fit in it.  The next day I would bring it to the little girl on    
 the bus.                                                                   
                                                                            
      That afternoon, I got on the bus when it stopped at my school.  The   
 girl was there and I sat down beside her.  I looked at her and said "Hey   
 guess what?!" and I pulled the makeshift basket from the paper sack in     
 my hands.  The face of the child lit up like the sun emerging through      

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                   The Road Less Travelled  By:Manfred                      
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 the clouds.  To this day I do not think I have seen such happiness as that 
 child.  "The Easter Bunny left this at MY house by mistake," I told her,   
 "He said he didn't know where you lived and asked me to give it to you."   
 This seemed to wash with the youngster who was now examining the entire    
 contents of the basket.  My stop arrived and I left the bus and returned   
 home with the best feeling I have ever known.  I wasn't sure WHY I felt    
 so good - was it the fact that I made her smile?  Was it the fact that     
 perhaps she would have a slightly better memory of her childhood?  I had   
 no idea, at age 10, why this was such an important moment for me.  I had   
 no knowledge of how many times I would use this road in my life.  For a    
 couple of days, an otherwise normal kid, I understood that there would     
 always be someone worse off than I.  In that case, it was financial, but   
 I would learn that "worse off" could apply to numerous situations.         
                                              Ŀ 
    It was this road that taught me one of      AVATAR ONLINE SYSTEMS!    
 the most important lessons I have learned.     (818)-969-8227  N 8 1     
 Life is a sharing experience.  Even though       Professionl Tutors      
 I may not have what I consider to be a lot,   32 Lines, Family Chat BBS  
 there is always enough to share with some     ** 2 FREE WEEKS TRIAL! **  
 one who may not even have that much.          

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                   The Road Less Travelled  By:Manfred                      
Ĵ
      With the Holidays just behind us, I am inclined to remember this road 
 and to mark it on my map.  The reason is that I think we forget what gift  
 giving and gift receiving is all about.  We shop and place the value of    
 the gift on the dollars spent.  The gift is not valuable because we spent  
 money on it - the gift is valuable because we give it.  Why do you give    
 gifts?  I have found, along my roads, that I like to see people smile. I   
 like to know that even if for just a brief moment, they feel happy & good. 
 It doesn't really matter that I may have had a hand in that momentary      
 feeling, I just honestly have never felt as good as I did when I was 10.   
 There is a certain selfishness in wanting that feeling, but selfishness    
 is not always a bad thing.  If your selfishness serves a good purpose,     
 then it is a good thing.  It is only when the selfishness excludes every-  
 one else that it becomes destructive.  But                                 
 we need to learn that differentiation.  We   Ŀ 
 need to understand that happiness is shared; Ŀ(310)371-3734 12-9600Ŀ 
 it does not and cannot exist in just one.    ôĴô 
                                               * BEYOND ETERNITY *  
     The 5 year old's smile stays with me     ôĴô 
 every day that I travel.  It keeps me warm   (310)370-9464  3-2400ٳ 
 when the road gets momentarily cold.   -*-    


