Suzie was a happy person and everyone enjoyed being around her. Somehow she would have a group of people around her wherever she went. She didn't understand it really, but found it interesting. Why did she seem to turn into the people magnet? She wasn't outgoing, she wasn't an entertaining person with stories filled with humor, she wasn't visually beautiful, and Suzie just didn't understand it.

Then, one night Suzie was at a friend's house for a small friendly get together. When Suzie walked in, all heads turned with smiles of greetings. Everyone has been friends for years and at least once a month they all got together just for fun.

Suzie usually entered with sparkling eyes and a ready smile. However this evening, Suzie wasn't really feeling in a joyful mood, but knew she had to attend. Not attending would result in several phone calls and questions of "why?" She decided to put on a happy face "mask" and go. She thought she was doing a good job with her mask of happiness and it only slipped out of place when she thought no one was looking. As the night progressed, she found herself alone and the people magnet had a new name, Patty.

Suzie soon realized that she could slip out and no one would notice, but that too would lead to a few calls and with the question, "Where did you go?" To save the hassles of later, Suzie once again put on her happy face and walked over to the hostess. "Thank you for a wonderful evening, but I'm a bit tired and am going to go home." "Thanks for coming, see you later." Replied the hostess in an abstracted sort of way. Suzie went home, and lying in bed, wondered why she felt like a leper at the gathering tonight.

The next day, Suzie was shopping at the mall and ran into Patty. Patty's eyes were sparkling and she had a smile on her face. Suzie smiled and said, "Hello Patty." Patty said hello back and asked Suzie what was wrong. Suzie was a bit taken back with the directness of the question and replied, "Oh, nothing really, just feeling a bit "blah". Patty's next words stung a bit and left Suzie feeling a bit puzzled. "Why didn’t you just pretend you were happy? It was only one night and we only do it once a month. You were such a downer?" Suzie didn't know what to say, so she just gave a mask of a smile and replied, "I'll see you later." She then walked down the mall thinking, "Why should I have to pretend, why should I have to be happy whenever we get together? It's not like I'm the only one who has a "blah" day, why can't people just accept that a person is not happy once in a while?" As these questions went through her mind, she remembered the feeling of being pushed out, like a leper. Then another thought came, was she only included in the group of friends because she was perceived as a happy person?

Finally, Suzie asked herself, "Is it bad to admit to feeling down? Is feeling down the new leprosy of the world and cause to be ostracized?"

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