The Girl with the Wonderful Life

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Nicole.  She was the daughter of a rich businessman.  She lived in a large house with her mother, father, and younger brother.  They were a happy family.  Of course they fought like everyone else, but there were never any problems that were too big to handle.  Every year they took vacations to far away lands and spent lots of money on tickets to Broadway plays.  Not only did this family have their gigantic house, but they also owned a two story condo in the mountains, a two story cabin they built themselves, and a large barn in the country with living quarters and room for their two horses. 
         Nicole’s friends, Elizabeth, Denise, and Lena, however, were not as lucky.  Elizabeth’s family did not have much money and lived in a tiny house built by Habitat for Humanity.  There was scarcely enough room for Elizabeth and her parents, let alone her two older brothers.  Her father worked for the city police in the animal control department.  His job had just been up for review, and the city decided they did not need someone to fill his position.  Thus, times for Elizabeth’s family got even harder.  Elizabeth would tell her friends of the family’s misfortune, and they would all try to console her, except Nicole who tried to compare her life.
         “I know exactly how you feel!” said Nicole, “My dad wouldn’t build us another pool at the barn because he said it would be a waste of money.”
         “Oh, that’s terrible!” said Lena sarcastically.  Elizabeth and Denise rolled their eyes.
         Nicole, apparently not picking up on the sarcasm, replied, “Yes, it was awful.  I cried all day.”
         Nicole’s friends were used to the absurdity of Nicole’s comparing her great life to their misfortune.  They simply rolled their eyes and continued talking to Elizabeth.
         Denise’s situation was very similar.  She also lived in a tiny house with her parents, her younger sister, and her younger brother.  Her father worked at a factory, and her mother worked cleaning a nursing home.  Her father used to be in the military.  At one time he was stationed in South Korea.  That’s where he met his wife.  They moved to the United States and started a life together.  This, however, caused quite a few problems.  There were many cultural differences that they had never considered.  This became the center of many arguments between them.  Their children grew up not knowing whether they should act like Koreans or Americans.  Some of the neighbors also didn’t like the fact that this was an interracial marriage.  It didn’t fit into their idea of how life should be.  Denise’s family didn’t care about those opinions though because most of their neighbors were drug dealers.  Drug dealers’ opinions seldom matter.
         Denise would confide in her friends.  She would explain all the troubles her mixed heritage caused and all the problems of her poor neighborhood.  She told them about how she didn’t know how to act around each of her parents, or anyone else for that matter.  Her friends tried to help her in any way they could except for Nicole.
         Nicole had once again crossed over the border into insanity when she said, “I know just how you feel!  I have brown hair, and my younger brother is blonde.  People always think it’s the weirdest thing they’ve ever seen!”
         “Wow, that must be really rough for you,” replied Elizabeth in a mocking manner.  Even though they were slightly offended at their friend’s comparing their problems to trivial matters, they let it go.  There was no sense in arguing with her, and she was a friend anyway.
         Lena’s problems were probably the worst of all.  She was the product of a drunken mistake her parents made.  The irony of it all is that they met at Alcoholics Anonymous.  She found it both disturbing and amusing.  This led to many more future problems.  Her parents separated when she was three due to her father’s abuse of her mother.  Her mother took Lena and her little sister far away, but her father found them.  He threatened her mother with a gun and took the girls away.  Her mother went back to him to get the girls back.  She finally divorced him, met another man, and moved away with the girls again.  She was now remarried, and it had been many years since those troubles.  They, however, left a lasting impression on Lena’s mother.  She began to drink until she would pass out in the yard.  Sometimes she would cut herself and watch the bleeding.  A few times she even tried to slit her wrists in an attempt to commit suicide.  Lena was always frightened of what she’d find when she returned home from school.  Lena’s step-father was a good man.  He took care of the girls and placed their mother in a mental hospital.  She went in and out many times, but never really came out better.  The best friend Lena had once had in her mother was gone.  The medicine the doctors gave her ultimately made her brain deteriorate.  She had a hard time remembering things, and could seldom be left alone.  She could no longer work or drive.  Lena and her sister took turns literally babysitting their mother.  Lena’s mother would become frustrated because she knew she hadn’t always been this way.  She often fought with her eldest daughter as a result of her anger.  This created a very turbulent environment for Lena to grow up in.
         She would hardly speak of the things that bothered her to anyone.  She did, occasionally, tell her friends of her trials at home.  They were awestruck at someone having to babysit their own mother and all the other things she had been through.  Everyone felt sorry for her except Nicole.
         Nicole, once again, said, “I know just how you feel!  I have a lot of pressure on me too!  In fact, my mom made me unload the dishwasher last night.  It was awful.  She was taking out her problems by making me do it!  I’ve never experienced something so painful!”  She began to cry.
         Elizabeth, Denise, and Lena were, at first, unsure how to react.  They hoped and prayed that she was joking.  They all looked at each other in utter disbelief.  How could one person have it so good and think that their life was all that bad?  She was not only being over dramatic, but she was trivializing their real, honest pain.  It was too much for them to take.  They were all three furious.  They had listened to enough of her garbage and sat idly by.
         “I mean, isn’t it terrible guys?  All the horrible stuff I go through?  I just don’t know how I make it through the day sometimes.”  She continued.
         “Nicole, please tell us you’re kidding,” said Denise.
         “Of course not!  I think I’m scarred for life.  I’m suffering from real emotional trauma here!” Nicole replied.
         “What trauma?!?” asked Elizabeth, utterly enraged.
         “All terrible things I’ve been telling you all.  I’m not even making it up!  I swear!  It’s really that bad!”  She exclaimed.
         “Nicole, you are a petty, insignificant nitwit.  Your life is great and yet you act like it’s terrible.  On top of that, you have the audacity to criticize us by pretending your situation is much worse than ours.  You have no idea what the real world is like, and one day you’re going to wake up and find out what real problems really are!” retorted Lena. 
         Nicole was silent.  No one had ever spoken to her so harshly before.  She began to cry.  Lena rolled her eyes and began to walk away.  Denise asked, “Why don’t you cry about something real, you big baby?” and turned to follow Lena.
         Elizabeth lingered a few seconds longer before stating, “Nicole, I hope you grow up and realize what an idiot you are.  More, than that, I hope that when you actually do have problems you’ll have someone there to care because we’re over it.”  Elizabeth walked off in the direction the others had gone, leaving Nicole completely alone. 
         Due to the trauma of a fight with her friends on top of her miserable existence, Nicole imploded.  Her remains can still be found in the chair she was sitting in because everyone was too busy with real problems to dispose of the ashes of a whiny little brat that got what she deserved.  Elizabeth, Denise, and Lena went on to be happy people who never complained or whined about trivial matters.