1. Gratitude.
Since it is the month of our blessed holiday of eating unholy amounts of food, and I probably won't blog for a while, I decided it would be appropriate to write about gratitude.
Recently I volunteered at a fundraiser for Sustain Haiti, the group I went with to Haiti (obviously). One woman started asking me a lot of questions about what we did, how our projects are doing, etc. Then she asked me a weird question.
"With all you saw in Haiti, the way people lived and such, did you come back to the United States thinking 'I have too much stuff! I need to live more simply!'?"
My response? "No."
She was quite taken aback. This response doesn't surprise me too much. That's what people are supposed to feel, right? After seeing people living in filth, barely able to feed their kids (let alone seek medical care when they're sick), I should feel guilty about how I live in the States, right?
Nope.
Of course I am more grateful for what I have. Clean tap water had never seemed more precious to me and I loved that I could turn on all the lights in my house if I wanted to. But no, I don't feel guilty for the things I've been blessed with. Of course, this is all within boundaries. I'm not one to frivolously spend money on unnecessary luxuries. I'm just as poor as the next college kid. But I'm sorry, I'm not going to waste the resources living in this country has blessed me with. I will live in a house with running water and electricity. I will eat lots of junk food when I'm depressed. I will use a computer and have an ipod and a cell phone. I will go to the doctor when I'm sick. And my someday family will have these things too.
I don't know why I was randomly selected to be born where I was or to be raised in the family I have. I am ridiculously lucky and I know that. And for this reason I will not sit around idly. I will use my good fortunes to bring good fortunes to others. That's it.
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember to think about those less fortunate this holiday season.
