Sometimes, I feel sorry for me.....

Count your blessings, they tell me.

I do. I am love-soaked by an incredible husband, children, family & friends. I'm able to walk upright, using all my limbs and digits. I eat 3 balanced meals a day. Stuff fills my lovely home. My garden overflows with color and delight.

And I'm just one of millions who lives in a 'land of plenty'.

Yet when I see images portraying inhabitants of other countries, even third world countries, I observe something that seems to be missing from snapshots of life in America. I see bright smiles on the faces of happy children; a group of children seen playing outside, creating their own play environments using homemade props or their imagination.
I see adult men and woman, congregating in the village square. The women may have a bundle on their heads and the men appear to be in work clothes. Yet they take the time to stop and chat and laugh with one another.

In America, our 'disposable' income allows us to purchase items that supposedly create comfort, ease and pleasure. Why, then, are we filled with stress and a sense of impending doom? Why is 10% of our population taking anti-depressants? Why are our children being prescribed pharmaceutical drugs to calm them or ease their anxieties? Where are the smiles on the faces of people residing in one of the richest countries in the world?

My good friend, Jonny, and I were talking about 'feeling sorry' for those in other countries who live with less. Perhaps the family shares a tiny two room home. Perhaps the six children must make do by sharing one gnarly looking bicycle. Perhaps chickens run in and out the front door of their home.

Yet, perhaps this little family shares stories and laughter and camaraderie in the evenings instead of sitting slack faced in front of the TV. Perhaps the children are learning invaluable lessons after school while helping out in the family business instead of exercising their thumbs on a video game controller or by cell phone texting.

Perhaps I should be feeling sorry for those of us who have allowed the quest for 'more' to distort our perspectives...