Have you ever felt like you got the short end of the stick in life or found yourself complaining about what you don’t have? I know I have, until I did some research recently on the things that many Americans often take for granted, that countless others in the world will never have themselves.
Here are eleven of them that I felt were worth mentioning:
- Hot Running Water – In many countries, it can sometimes take up to 15 minutes to get warm water, while in some, they get none at all, where in others, there is no running water at all. (In my case, I can take a hot shower almost immediately and usually do so for a good 20 to 30 minutes.)
- Toilets that can take toilet paper – In many countries, you can’t flush the toilet paper, while in some, you have none at all actually, and have to use your hand and water to clean yourself. (I personally have wet wipes on hand at home, and have always had access to toilet paper that could be flushed, thank God!)
- Power – In many countries, power outages are often a regular thing and are often due to cuts by the government. Imagine going for days to weeks without any power in your home! (Heck, I can’t imagine going through some of the 100+-degree weather I’ve experienced in the past without any air conditioning…)
- Health Care – While I know many often complain of the costs of health care in our country, there are plenty of other countries where ambulances don’t arrive at the drop of a dime, where people don’t have any doctors to go to, or where health care is so expensive, people frequently die in their homes or on the streets. (In Toledo where I live, there is a hospital that will accept people with no insurance and there is also free state health care for those with no income.)
- Sanitation – There are a good number of countries where the streets are strewn with garbage, and sewers are filled with raw sewage and feces that empty into the local waterways. (I can’t even fathom the idea of seeing stool regularly floating down the street in front of my house or watching it swim by in the bodies of water around me…)
- Clean Air – Sure, we may still have some problems with pollution in our country, but nothing like a number of other places in the world where the air is so unhealthy that people suffer regularly from respiratory problems and deal with germs and disease constantly because of it. (As a former sufferer from asthma, I can only imagine having to live with that feeling every day as a fact of life and without any inhalers on hand no less!)
- Corruption – While there may still be corruption present in the United States that runs under the radar, in other countries, it’s a normal fact of life to operate via bribes. In fact, many business and governments openly function elsewhere with bribing as a regularly way of doing business and unless you partake in it, you may get nowhere with even the simplest of needs. (Can you imagine for example, having to get some type of infraction taken care of, where the cost of that infraction changes based upon the mood of the person in power? I sure can’t.)
- Access to education – While every child in America is able to receive some sort of education, there are far too many countries where kids have no schooling, never learning how to read or write and instead end up in sweatshops or victims of sex trafficking because of it. (I went through a pretty decent public school system and couldn’t fathom the idea of not knowing how to read and write given how much I use them on a daily basis these days.)
- Ability to travel – For the most part, we have the ability to travel pretty much anywhere in the world, but in many other countries, citizens are never even allowed to leave. (Being a person who loves to travel and has seen a number of places outside our borders, the thought of being confined to a certain area permanently would leave me feeling like I was in a prison.)
- Freedom of speech – While I must be honest and say I’m concerned that this one could potentially change over the next four years, we still do, for the most part, have the ability to say whatever we want here in America. Yet in other countries, many are frequently shot or tortured for saying what’s on their minds. (The thought of me expressing my spiritual views on my blog and possibly being put into prison for it is not a pleasant thought at all!)
- And lastly, drinking water and food – While there are some in our country who are homeless or dealing with poverty that still struggle having access to these things, the majority here don’t ever deal with this. Yet countless people in plenty of other places around the world die every day from thirst and starvation, with no regular access to either. (In my case, I drink several large bottles of Smart Water and have at least two to three square meals every day. But I can’t imagine being able to drink less than a glass of water a day and having not much more than a cup of rice for food to go along with it.)
I’m sure there are loads of other things I could mention as well that many tend to typically take for granted here in the United States, while innumerable others around the world would love to have. Thankfully though, due to the trials and tribulations I’ve gone through these past bunch of years, I’ve moved away from being one of those and become a lot more grateful. God has helped me to see just how good I still have it, even in the midst of those trials and tribulations, while so many others on this planet continue to suffer on far too many levels. My only hope is that as my health continues to improve that I never forget this, that I continue to remain grateful, and that God will guide me to more and more ways I can give back, not just to those suffering in the United States, but to those around the world as well, who may never have all the things we so often take for granted here…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
