I was cementing this morning on my journey to work some thoughts that I've had for a while. About how life is so cheap in many countries around the world and how lucky we are to hold it dear here.
How lucky I am to want to rub my child's head better when he bumps it, or put cream on a graze or lavender on his throat.
How lucky my children are to live each day limbs intact, walking to and from school where they will find people and institutions that want to educate, nurture and feed them.
How we live in a time where thankfully more of us manage not to lose our children in childbirth or soon after, unlike the generations before us when it was something that they just got used to and legislated for. It still amazes to me to hear stories of the ones that didn't make it back up those family trees.
Even though I know where my family came from thanks to the diligence of older cousins and aunts and uncles on all sides, I still don't really know how this soul in me got to be so lucky to emerge where I did. Not in a war-torn African village, or a remote spot in between North and South Korea, or in a slum in Brazil.
The papers are filled with chaos and war in the Middle East and worse, the silent non headline-making facts of lives all over the world filled with a pain that the people there have long since questioned.
How lucky I am to worry about the nuances of the lives of my children, my husband, my siblings, my family.
I hope that one day I can do more than be thankful for what I have, and slightly guilty that I'm thankful that I don't have the lives that so many people around the world do. Until then I'll continue to try to sprinkle my bits of sunshine and glitter when and where I can.
I needed to read this today. Thanks for reminding that there is ALWAYS things to be thankful for!
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