On Stephen King's Pen Name

Today I began reading a book written by Richard Bachman, The Long Walk.  The book included an essay Stephen King wrote on his pseudonym (which, by the way, he still occasionally uses.  The last book written by Bachman was in 2007).  If you have a chance you should read the whole thing: http://www.liljas-library.com/bachman_king.php.  From it I fell in love with this quote and wanted to share it:

"The good folks mostly win, courage usually triumphs over fear, the family dog hardly ever contracts rabies; these are things I knew at twenty - five, and things I still know now, at the age (almost) of 25 x 2. But I know something else as well: there's a place in most of us where rain is pretty much constant, the shadows are always long, and the woods are full of monsters. It is good to have a voice in which the terrors of such a place can be articulated and its geography partially described, without denying the sunshine and clarity that fill so much of our ordinary lives"

I read this on the train ride home from work.  It wasn't a hard day, not a particularly long or stressful day, but I was tired and ready to be home.  On one stop a couple of boys (probably six and eight, if I had to guess) got on, along with a gentleman who was having a conversation with them.  I overheard him asking them about how many meals they were getting every day.  I learned that they were on the way to the library "for the books".  They recently found a home in the homeless shelter with their mother.  They had seen something very terrible that no child should ever see (I will not say because that's not what this is about).  They were getting two soupy meals a day.  And they had to get up around 7 am everyday, "even though it's summertime!"  

To me it was an oddly timed reminder the truth that these terrors do exist, both within and outside of us.  You must acknowledge that they are there.  Do what you can when you can.  But don't lose the sunshine that should fill your life.