She was the perfect girl for me, all I would ever need. Mary Susan had red hair, big brown eyes, and skin like a porcelain doll. Her dad was the richest guy in town, which didn't matter but sorta did.

At that age my worldliness about women was a little on the sparse side. Warm feelings about Mary Susan were primarily based on the fact she was nice to me. Most girls treat seven- year- old boys like a degenerate, mutated species, which, I guess has some merit.

Alexander Consolidated School was having a fundraiser that involved coat hangers. I have no idea why. The student who donated the most coat hangers in each class got a special award, a paper certificate, and bragging rights. I didn't care about the actual award. I wanted to be the winner.

I rounded up all our unused coat hangers and those of all my relatives. When I dropped my stash onto the classroom floor the next Monday, I could tell by the small piles around me that the mimeographed citation was already mine. Then Mary Susan walked in with three times as many as I had.

As vanquished competitors usually do, I initially sulked about it and then blamed someone else. She must have cheated or her dad bought a bunch of hangers so she could win. Then Mrs. Thomas told me I was in charge of weeding out the unacceptable hangers before the contest winner was determined. Problem solved.

I was busy reducing the numbers of my major opposition, happy as any driven person with a purpose in life. My task was difficult; Mary Susan's collection of coat hangers was almost exclusively new. I was having to really stretch the standards of acceptability to discard most of her contribution.

Then I looked up from my work directly into her big brown eyes. The look she was giving me wasn't irritation, disgust, or threat of retribution. It was pity. She actually seemed to feel sorry for someone who would toss away every semblance of self respect to be able to wave a piece of paper around and brag.

Mary Susan could have walked over and stabbed me in the eye with one of those fat pencils we used and not damaged me more. I was so ashamed of myself my head was spinning. I did a quick check of her hanger stash and proclaimed it blemish free. Mary Susan was declared the winner by a large margin and acted like it was nothing. She seemed to be happy just contributing to the charity we were involved with.

Today, we have Bernie Madoff stealing from his friends, bank and auto CEO's running their companies into the ground while making multi million dollar bonuses, and politicians like Nancy Pelosi calling for a truth commission while she was in on the lie. Television revolves around programs that focus on greed, deceit, and superficiality.

We need a jolt of reality and not the manufactured kind we tune in to. We need an innocent face to silently ask so many of us; Have you no shame? I wonder if Mary Susan is still around.