The Spread of Happiness

By Max Southam

Martin was not born into a rich family.

In fact he was born into a very poor family who could not afford to keep him.

The orphanage where Martin was dropped off was a Catholic orphanage that was heavy on discipline and cruel to the children.

The family was forced to dump him at an orphanage due of lack of funds.

Martin would get hit with a ruler every day for just saying what he was thinking.

Martin was put to a trial while living in the orphanage.

While living there Martin never really believed in god.

I don't believe in god!

When he said that to one of the nuns who ran the orphanage, he was severely beaten by the woman. She beat him with a whip and cane almost to death and then didn’t give him any proper nourishment until he did a hundred hail Mary’s.

I guess I will not talk about my believes any more.

Forgive me lord...

He did this without believing what he was saying.

After the beating and being starved, Martin was scared for life about talking about his beliefs to other people.

Martin is a guy who will earn your trust no matter how hard he has to work at it. He is a very reliable person who will listen to your problems.

Hey, i'm martin.

Nice to meet you.

You can tell me your secrets. it's ok i won't tell.

Martin never lies to people on purpose. if he does lie, it is because he is protecting one of his friend's secrets. He is willing to lay his life, on the line if it means saving someone he knows or even someone he has never met.

No, chandler, don't do it!

After being beaten and starved, Martin completes the thing he is most proud of; he talked a orphanage mate out of shooting themselves.

The boy who was going to shoot himself was a boy named Chandler.

After that Chandler became Martin's friend and then he was shortly thereafter adopted into a good family with money and loving parents.

This is the first thing Martin ever did to change someone's life for the better.

I just saved a boy's life

MOM! DAD!

Martin, after living in the orphanage for sixteen years, was traumatized of being beat and unloved. He was also never adopted in the time he was living there, that made him feel like nobody cared about him.

Martin was allowed to leave the orphanage when he was sixteen since nobody adopted him.

This was the point where Martin said to himself I will never be mean to other people or hurt them.

Hello there have a good day!

This was the point in time where he went out into the streets to make people feel better about their outlook on life.

One day while living on the streets, Martin found himself in an alley he had never been to before.

Hey, kid what are you doing here?

well sir, i am spreading happiness around the city.

When in this new alley Martin met and old man.

Well thats a very nice thing for you to be doing.

After talking about that for a while, the old man and martin became very good friends and the old man told him some secrets about the city.

Take the sewers back to the alley.

did you know that under the city in the old sewer systems is a good mode of transportation?

I am lost what do i Do?

No, I didn't i will have to use it someday.

This old man though wasn't normal. whenever Martin didn’t know what to do or was lost, the old man would just show up and help him.

Ooh, what's this?

He took this and it became his special talisman that he would rub when he was thinking or laying on a bench before bed. The worn piece of glass would soothe Martin's thoughts and helps him relax.

While Martin was walking around the city talking to people and being nice he came across a piece of very worn sea glass that had been left from the last hurricane flood.

Making all of these people happy is so hard.

Three years after leaving the orphanage, martin was forced out of the city by a flood.

Martin lived in New Orleans, and it was during a hurricane he was brought out to a neighboring rural community by the coast guard.

I don't know what to do here.

I lost my mommy!

Here let me help you.

For a few hours Martin had no idea what he was doing in such a rural area, but he soon figured out he could help the people who needed help.

Some people had lost family members or had been injured in the flood.

Hey, i can help all of you. just trust me, and we will get through this.

Martin helped people get through this disaster while being in a completely new place unlike anywhere he had ever been.

Martin only ever went back to his home at the orphanage once after leaving at the age of sixteen. He returned at the age of thirty-five to do nothing else but adopt a child.

Hey, SOn. Hey, Dad.

Welcome home!

At that point Martin was not living on the streets and he had a good job, other than making people happy and risking his life to save people.