In high school, I went on a community service trip to El Salvador where we volunteered in a small rural community. We performed manual labor tasks like digging ditches or helping plant crops. After helping the community during the day, we would split into smaller groups where we had dinners with local families and had the opportunity to talk to them (or as much as my broken Spanish would allow me to). During these conversations, I learned a lot about their culture but even more about mine.
I was speaking with a man who was saving to move to America. As I sat there in my travel pants and quick dry t-shirt, we talked about different places in America and what it was like. Was Los Angeles really like the movies? Do I eat a lot of cheeseburgers? All the fun questions Americans get when they travel. But when the conversation turned to his life, it became a lot more interesting. I asked him how much it would cost for him to get to America he said it would cost $200 (or at least to get to the border). Even on a part-time bowling alley birthday party host income that seemed like nothing to me. It impressed upon me the difference in prosperity in a way that never had sunk in before.
At dinner, one family discussed how happy they were. Eating from a 4 person neon plastic table in a dirt floored hut, this woman was expressing her genuine happiness. She appreciated the small things in her life. She was able to put food on the table to feed her family and see her small girls smile. There was no TV in this house and you could bet that none of these kids had any idea what a gameboy was but they smiled and laughed just as much as any other kids would. They still found ways to entertain themsleves by playing in the fields and making up games. But you could imagine their faces that night meeting us outsiders and learning about our distant lands. So many trappings of the modern world hadn't quite made it to them yet, but they appreciated the things that they had.
Before I come off like too much of a communist, I am not advocating that we throw away all our materialistic consumer products and live a simple life eating only plain rice in a commune or anything (that would seem exceptionally ironic to be posting on a blog). Instead, I'm saying we just need to keep things in perspective. We can't feel guilty for the situations we are born into but can't take them for granted either. The difference between being grateful and being spoiled is simply an appreciation for what you have been given. Taking the little things in life and savoring them, will make life taste just that much sweeter.
