An Attitude of Gratitude

Greetings, readers, and my apologies for being absent these last six weeks. I'm back. Let's just say that frequency and consistently remain to be seen.

Can we talk perspective for a minute?

Unless you are destitute, homeless, ill, and malnourished, if you live in these United States, you are blessed. You may scoff at that, implicating my privilege as biasing my viewpoint. But facts don't lie.

- If you live in a building of any sort, you are blessed.

- If you drive a car or have access to public transportation, you are blessed.

- If you wake everyday not suffering from preventable illness, you are blessed.

- If you have access to food, whether nutritious or full of empty calories, you are blessed.

- If you don't like the direction our country is heading, you have the right to vote for former VP Joe Biden in the coming election. With that freedom you have been blessed.

- If you do like the direction our country is heading, or you hold concern over how a change in Administration will impact our future, you have the right to vote to re-elect President Trump. With that freedom you have been blessed.

- If you can't fathom either major party candidate leading our country for the next four years, you have the right to vote for any of the third-party candidates that make the ballot, or to write-in your own candidate. With that freedom you have been blessed.

Now for some of that perspective I mentioned.

An Afghan woman living in Shar Jah lives inside her home, never venturing outside those walls without her husband, father, brother, or other immediate male family member to escort her. She eats only what her husband brings into the home or allows her to grow in their back yard, inside the 8-foot concrete wall that separates their home from the neighbors'. She will never drive, and may not ever rid in a car. She may not wear anything outside her home that shows her hair, her wrists, her ankles, or sometimes even her feet. She will never vote. She will never attend school. And she may never see a television, experience electric lights, or be exposed to the Internet, let alone argue with her friends over which celebrity "wore it best."

A 10-year-old child living in Kolwezi, Congo, spends 16-hour days crawling through tunnels with a hand shovel, mining Cobalt, a key ingredient in Lithium-ion batteries. (Yes, those batteries that power your hybrid automobile, are charged by your solar power roof cells, and provide mobile Internet access on your Apple iPhone.) The child us useful as long as he can navigate the tunnels. He eats little, partly because his access to the mines demands it, partly because his employer pays him just enough to survive. Beside the child, a thirty-something man uses his hand shovel and broken hammer to earn his day's wages - wages that will cover flower and salt for the day for his wife and son who live in a single room they rent from the corporation. The man will work into the night, sleeping in the tunnels to protect his "claim." He will never argue with a collections agent over healthcare costs - he doesn't even know what healthcare is. He will never pick Sunoco over BP for $.03 savings per gallon - he can't fathom affording a car. He won't even hold a smartphone with a Lithium-ion battery that contains cobalt, let alone own this year's release.

Neither the woman in Afghanistan nor the boy in the Congo cares about First World problems. Each is grateful for the food on the table and the air in her or his lungs. Neither will argue with friends over the party's drifting away from its historic platform. Each is grateful for the warmth of the sun and the cooling air of the night.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." (Psa 107:1, NIV)

Here in these United States, we take some things for granted. We expect quality healthcare at low cost. We even expect others to pay for it. We expect gasoline to cost less per gallon than milk. We expect little delay at polling stations in November and we expect short or no lines, or else the Walmart manager ought to open more check-out lanes. And we expect our cheeseburger to have extra lettuce and no tomato, just like we ordered.

America is great. We live in the greatest country this world has ever seen. We rose to glory on hard work and sacrifice, and we ride that wave into 21st Century prosperity. We can pick our leadership, our fast food, and our entertainment choices (socially distant and responsibly).

But, we have a gratitude problem. I say "we" becasue I'm just as guilty as the next guy. I get upset when my burger comes with tomato. "That's why you get paid minimum wage," I say. I can't fathom anyone voting for the other candidate, I mean, look at his history! And my Internet service, don't get me started on that!

Give thanks to the Lord, Christian. Adopt an attitude of gratitude no matter what. Paul did - despite the stonings and imprisonment. And so does the 35-year-old Cobalt worker from the Congo. His wife can't afford flower for today's meal, but they can afford to live indoors.

If they can do it, so can we.

Give thanks to the Lord.

For He is good.

His love endures forever.

(Michael Robinson Chavez: Washington Post)