Some days the View from the Balcony brings pain for some, hardship
for others.

Friday, while doing my laundry, I expressed concern for a good
neighbor's planned move for Saturday ... did she have enough help?
Her sister is in a wheelchiar - victim of a brain tumor. They had
loads of promised help.

Saturday am began with a small voice in such pain. "I hate you! I
want my daddy!" Later in the day, this same little stressed voice was
trying hard to play happily with a sibling on the balcony above mine.

I wrapped myself in work - I did not know the circumstance and I
was not able to help the child. That hurt me. Two e-mails and three
reports later - designed to back up the start of a new series for our
subs, I still could not get over that little voice.

I signed off my computer and went out for a night of Texas Hold 'em
poker. I sure learned the difference between knowing when to hold
them and knowing when to fold them. Fun game. Totally
distracting.

It's Sunday - and I am again listening to a little voice scream "No
daddy ... No daddy" over and over again. The father this little boy
wanted so badly on Saturday is now his terrible mentor. The voice of
the father is not loud or screaming - just droning on - the adult full of
demanding expectation of the child.

The pain is broken with need. Someone is moving in and is in need of
help. It quiets the noise from the balcony above. My young g'son
Jake lends a hand and is rewarded with a nice cash bonus for doing
so.

I am thankful that the mover changed the motion upstairs. But it is
a temproary fix I am sure. Did the father stop his harangue because
of whom he thought might hear? How about the child? Will he be
all right?

It's Sunday - a day of rest - but little peace of mind for the View from
the balcony.

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged, sympathethic with the striving,
and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday
in life you will have been all of those."
--- George Washington Carver