Hey all,
Yes I am back. I needed just a *little* (o.k. 48 days is a long time in blogosphere) break from my blog. I am back, recharged, and ran over this post on Whitehot Truth.
The title: why you’re privileged: perspective from the dark side
I know I love to send out moneysaving, timesaving, thrifting, and God-inspiring tidbits. But this is, well, what it is: a perspective from the dark side.
Here is what Danielle Laporte wrote:
why you’re privileged: perspective from the dark side
If you're reading this, the highest probability is that you are living in the western world, above the poverty line, in a democratic environment.
Your heart may be broken, you may not have enough money to get to the end of the week, you may be fighting for your life.
But by many accounts - you are extremely fortunate.
By many accounts, you and I have every advantage to be happy, healthy, and deeply fulfilled.
Somewhere else...
: Are you gay? If you're found out, you will get jail time.
: If you were unfaithful to your spouse, you would be stoned, likely by your neighbours.
: Want to convert to a religion other than the one you were born in to? That would warrant execution.
: Thirsty? Clean water is five miles away. Walk to get it. You have one bucket.
: You may want to play soccer with the other boys your age, but you have weapons training.
: Have you complained about the government in an email? You're going to court.
Women...
: Long to be thin, to run in the sun? Forget it, men in your village like large women and you are force fed.
: Raped? Refuse a marriage proposal? If you're lucky, they won't kill you, they'll just throw acid in your face.
: Long for (word omitted by me) pleasure? It's difficult since your grandmother cut out your clitoris with a razor blade when you were twelve.
: If you're menstruating, you will miss school rather than face the ridicule.
: You can't get a job because by law, women are considered "half the value of men". Hey (she used another word), you can't even vote. You can't even look a man directly in the eyes.
We could go on with the atrocities and restrictions -- from the extremes of human trafficking (the average American girl is thirteen when she is forced into sex slavery,) and torture, to what we consider basic health-care, like clean needles and dentistry. The heck (she used another word) that is Haiti, and parts of Uganda, Sierra Leone, West Bengal...and our own cities...
Sometimes, the most direct route to appreciation is through the darkness - even if it's merely imagined. Facts, faced: even in our struggles, most of us are privileged. We have so many rights, must we exercise the right to complain?
I'm writing this from an airport because I missed my flight - which derails my luxurious escape plans for a day. I'm lucky to have plans, to be sitting by a $2 million dollar sculpture, in a gun-free airport, drinking my peppermint tea, in a new warm coat, using free wifi. I'll choose to be appreciative.
Your mother had the right idea: eat your dinner, there are children starving in the world.
That fresh salad you get with your entree; the insurance on your car; the clothes you wear, where you want; the hands you hold in public.
That vaccination scar on your arm.
Your innocence.
The light you're reading by.
Really, what's the worst of your problems?
Perspective isn't everything in terms of have's and have nots. But you can work it to your very great advantage.
Wow, how bad do we have it, really? God bless you all!
