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We are spoiled beyond belief.
- Nov 10, 2008 at 10:46 AM
- By
- Comments (58) Total Views (1698) Everyone can see this journal post.
It seems nearly every time I watch Sesame Street these days, Grover visits Africa and they show the clip of the wretchedly poor children attending school. It breaks my heart every single time, and I think long and hard about how easy we have it here in our country and how badly we take our conveniences for granted.
The clip shows a woman with her baby strapped to her back, waking her young daughter up for school. The child has slept on the floor of a hut, and washes her feet from a bucket and then cleans her teeth with her finger from the same bucket. Her mother hands her lunch, a small amount of food wrapped in paper. Then the child walks barefoot to school, where dozens and dozens of other children are all crammed into one room and taught by one teacher. They learn to write using chalk and small pieces of blackboard. They are eager to learn.
The children do not have expensive, safety approved playground equipment. They jump en masse for fun. They wear worn clothing and few, if any, have shoes. They don't have nutritionist-approved meals in the school cafeteria, or computers in the library, or teacher aides or overhead projectors or textbooks or school budgets. They don't have the luxury of being finicky about their food.
I wish Americans would stop being such spoiled bitches about everything. Whine, bitch, moan and complain. We are so oblivious to how other people live their daily lives elsewhere in the world. We are petty and selfish and self-absorbed. We are luckier than we'll ever know.
A child watching that clip on Sesame Street may not realize the depth of poverty it portrays, but an adult should, and it should make an impact. One Christian phrase that always has resounded for me is that "if not but by the Grace of God, that would be me." Apply that sentiment to your own personal spiritualism or philosophy and it will go a long way to refreshing your compassion for those less fortunate.
Comments:
Yep, if not for Grace, where would I be?.....Thats a very important thing to think about. May we all do that during this Thanksgiving season.
WOW..SOo very true;( If I hear one more 12 yr old complain about wanting an I TOUCH phone,I will scream.
I need to find these documentarys,show these to my children.They have NO idea,how lucky they are.I try to teach them...yet they still have no idea.They get meals everyday,and still complain.
Very insightfull:( & I feel SO sad for those mothers,and children.people in a whole,it makes NO sense.WE as a continent,have more than enough FOOD to go around,why are pepoel suffering,shows just how greedy the rich are:(
We ARE spoiled in this country!! I get reminded of that every time we have a missionary come visit our church from a foreign field. We had one visit us last year from Malawi, Africa and it was absolutely heartbreaking watching his DVD presentation. In that country, if someone lives to the age of 35, they are considered "old." Many 7-8 year old children are raising their younger brothers and sisters, because their parents have died. These children only have one outfit of clothes and they literally wear them til they completely fall apart. The food and water are contaminated, and there are so many parasites and bacterial, that even the smallest cut on your body can kill you.
So true. We are a nation of whiners. Funny, I remember Phil Grahmm saying that during the campaign and everyone who agreed with him got blasted. Hmmm. Seems to be alot of people now agree.. Guess it's all good unless you are for the other side at the time.
I was once told by a woman who was a missionary at an orphanage in Africa........ If you have running water to greet you in your house, a toilet that flushes into a sewer rather than a pit in the backyard, a shower that has warm water AND you do not have to iron every piece of clothing to protect you from water borne diseases YOU ARE SPOILED BEYOND BELIEF!
I agree with your post and go with the "be the change you want to see in the world" atttude. Be grateful, and aware, and live modestly.
that is really funny i found this post today because we saw the Grover Africa segment yesterday! my son loves it and screams "baby on the back ... baby on the back!" when he sees it.... weird huh, and he 3 yrs old, tells them, no and stop it! when he sees them in the river with the bucket... yes Americans have no idea how spoiled we are, when i went on vaca to Jamaica when i was 21 i realized there are really people who live next to the resort in these tiki huts, no water, no lights, nothing! it was amazing, schools seemed better, they had cute color coded uniforms in Jamaica but even sense them my eyes have been opened to our amazing blessings and the things we just take for granted. i am a teacher now and see parents completely ungrateful for what our schools provide (at my school that includes free uniforms, dental care, meals 2 per day, bussing, we give computers to families who pledge to keep the internet on, the poorest 10 fams gets free christmas gifts for the whole fam not jsu the kids... it goes on and on and some still complain), and just complain, not to say that the whole school system could be improved greatly but it is that time of year to stop and step back and see all that we have. great post, i didn't think about that when i watched the Africa piece but now it will mean more to me!
What a great post Joye. It is amazing how much we all take for granted. I know there are many people in America who are thankful for what they have, but even they (me included) don't know the depths of what others don't have.
My grandparents grew up that way right here in the U.S. and they turned out fine and happy. Big whoop.
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I know what clip you are referring to. We truly are lucky here! Sometimes I find myself too hot or too cold and get impatient for the a/c or furnace to get the house to the right temp. Then I stop and think to myself... what is your problem? At least I have a way to be comfortable.
Or I don't feel like eating what I just made, b/c I'm not in the mood for it.
I coud go on and on. And then I realize just how blessed I am and try hard not to take it for granted!