So, I’ve had several moments in the past week, where I started thinking about some rather ordinary things that we take for granted. Thought I’d list a few.

1. Not stepping on bombs.

The other day, I decided to walk from my dad’s apt to my mom’s house. A strange thing to do in the suburbs. But I LOVE walking. And the weather has been phenomenal. So, I set off along Spring Cypress. Naturally, there’s no sidewalks, and every once in a while, I ventured off the ‘path’ to find a short cut through a ‘field’ or ditch or whatever. As I was walking, I thought to myself, wow, I’m really thankful to be able to freely walk whereever I want without fear of stepping on a bomb.

Now, stop there. I know that sounds RIDICULOUS. But, here’s the thing. I have been places where it’s legitimately unsafe to wander off the beaten path due to un-exploded landmines. In my travels, I came across a band of about 6 men playing beautiful, yet imperfect, traditional music to make a living for themselves and others who had lost limbs due to random land mines scattered throughout the lands.

In memory of that, I realized how normal of a thing it is to expect to walk/run/scamper safely from point A to point B, and decided to be thankful.

2. Sippin’ a lemonade safely outside the garage.

So, the other day, a few of my students from Mexico were telling me about the situation in Monterrey (many of them are from there). Personal, first-hand accounts of story after story. Gun-fights. Kidnappings. One even told a story of her sister being beat up and kidnapped for a few hours right outside of their house.

See, Americans always think everywhere is unsafe. Even if it’s like one american got shot there 5 years ago. I’ve been to Egypt, Russia, Thailand… all considered unsafe, and I was totally fine… So, when I always hear people say ‘Mexico is really unsafe’, I’m skeptical. So, you can imagine, how humbling it was to hear these crazy stories from my students – many of whom moved their families here because of safety.

Can you imagine not being able to go get your mail from the mailbox due to fear of being kidnapped?

3. Having poptarts and cookies in the pantry.

I came across people in Asia that literally don’t have enough food. They spend all day toiling in their fields, yet still, they don’t have enough food to feed themselves. And they don’t have enough money from what they’ve sold to buy food. A ‘pantry’ doesn’t exist. Why would you have a special space for food, when you don’t even have enough to feed family each day? Many people have to supplement their ‘meals’ with frogs they can catch in their fields.

The fact that I can open the pantry and choose to refuse one of the many choices of ‘luxury’ foods like poptarts or cookies or whatever, says a lot.

4. Choosing What to do Today.

In Asia, (I know that gets annoying, but yes, a lot of this is based on my traveling experiences. There is still so much I’m processing, and the best I can think of for the moment, is to blog.) But anyway… In some parts of Asia, there are many people who live without the option of choosing what to do today. Countless girls (and boys), children, have been sold (even by their own families) into slavery – often, sex slavery. Some, the most “valuable”, aka the youngest and the virgins, don’t even get to see sunlight. Kept in dark, underground rooms, if they were allowed to scream, they would go unheard. Tortured, electrocuted, even killed for failure to provide maximum ‘pleasure’ for the highest price. They don’t get a choice of what to do today. Not even a choice of protecting themselves from unnatural STDs. Not even a choice of how to use their own bodies. Not even the choice to beg, ‘Please, just not today’.

To be honest, I can’t even imagine. There’s so much we take for granted. Why did I end up with a good life?