One Year Ago

One year ago my wife and I went to Guatemala, I can’t believe it’s been that long ago already but it has been.

Even today I am still affected by that trip.  My thinking, my perspective, was forever changed. I saw suffering, I saw desperation, I saw humanity in a way that I never before saw it.  Still to this day it sobers me.

I saw people who would possibly never have the chance to succeed in life due to cultural rules, due to lack of financial support, due to expectations of people’s gender.

I saw people in wheel chairs, with grossly infected legs who would never receive medical aid.  They couldn’t just go to a hospital.

I saw children scavenging for food, selling anything they could find for mere pennies so they could have something to eat that night.

I saw men and women working hard labor intensive job day in and day out, with no hope of an education to a brighter tomorrow.

In short it made me feel extremely selfish.  The people I saw have problems I will never know about.

Here we freak out if our internet or cable goes down for a day.  If we break our phone and have to go without it for a few days.  If our car battery dies, and we are without a car for a day.

We have scholarships, loan programs, to better ourselves, to better our future, to receive an education.

We have hospitals that if someone walked into who was desperately sick, they would care for them.

I don’t think I have ever complained about money since going to Guatemala, and don’t ever think “we don’t have any money”, I don’t know what the true meaning of that phrase even means.

It made me grateful for the things I have.  It humbled me in a way no words ever could, and it made me what to help those who don’t have the resources available to me.