It's not this Octomom that scares me.It's the next one.And if you don't think there'll be a new lineup of women having ridiculous numbers of babies in hopes of snagging money, a house and - most of all - national attention, then you haven't been watching. Nadya Suleman, whom many liken to a hypnotized ditz, has nonetheless gotten exactly what she wanted out of America, and maybe more than she dreamed.
And then he's gone.Corey Smith was a professional football player. He played here in Detroit. When journalists entered the locker room after a Lions game, they scattered to get quotes. Now and then they went to Smith. I did it. I did it without thinking. I played my role, Smith played his. A notepad. A question. An answer.And then he's gone.
The beating began when he was 7 years old. His father, a drunk, would whack him with the back of his hand. He would scream insults. "You're no good!""You're stupid!" He would hit the boy's sisters, as well. Worst of all, he would hit their mother, his wife, over and over, night after night. He would split her lip. He would smack her forehead until she bled. She never spoke of it. And so the boy never spoke of it. And the shame began to bubble inside him.
Mitch Albom writes about running an orphanage in impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.