The Traditional Virtue of Liberality

"Liberality is not so much a political identification as a personal disposition toward empathy and selflessness. This is the mark of our most inspiring and honored teachers, leaders, heroes ... and saints."
~ David Satterlee

Story: The Ugly Baby

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The Ugly Baby

Life Will Get You in the End:
Short Stories by David Satterlee

from the book: Life Will Get You in the End:
Short stories by David Satterlee

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Read or download this story as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKcnRNY2FuNlNLUTQ/edit?usp=sharing

A liberal fable. Not every one can be born to good looks, wealth, or privilege. How should we think of the disadvantaged people we happen to see, knowing that their appearance, condition, or status may not reflect their inner gifts or intrinsic worth?

The Ugly Baby

Little Jenna was born ugly. There’s no getting around the fact; she was definitely butt ugly. She didn’t have the usual cuddly baby fat but looked like a bundle of sinew-wrapped sticks. She had a red blotch that covered her right jaw and went all the way back to her ear. Her left eye looked kind of droopy. Visitors to the hospital nursery either stared at her or looked away.

Jenna’s father left when he found out about the pregnancy. Her mother took a third part-time job but still couldn’t keep up with the rent. Between her mother’s stress, exhaustion, and poor nutrition, Jenna was delivered sickly and premature, which didn’t bode well for her future. 

Jenna’s widowed aunt eventually agreed to let her and her mother stay in a spare room. Jenna’s cousin had been brain-injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq and would never be coming back to sleep there. Jenna’s mother tried to get her GED high school diploma but, without transportation, she had attendance problems and dropped out. She tried to get work, but the economy was slowing and she began drinking heavily. Consumed by anger, helplessness, and hopelessness, she was an indifferent and inattentive mother to her ugly little burden. When Jenna was two, her mother disappeared without even leaving a note.

Jenna’s aunt became the bright spot in her otherwise physically, mentally, and emotionally-impoverished life. Her aunt, getting past her initial revulsion and resentment, opened her heart to

Poem: You Must Love Thy Neighbor

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You Must Love Thy Neighbor

Life Will Get You in the End:
Short Stories by David Satterlee

from the book: Life Will Get You in the End:
Short stories by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this story as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKZXlDQVhCaWRZZXc/edit?usp=sharing

A little ditty about empathy and compassion.

“You Must Love Thy Neighbor” 

(The saints among us)

All good things must run their course

And reach their final end.

So say the laws that govern us,

Which no one can amend.

We weep for sorrow not our own,

In love of fellow man.

And on these empathetic hearts

You can impose no ban.

For they can sense the tender need

Within a mind or heart.

And from compassion for such ones

These men will never part.