As many of you know, I did a documentary for my TV Production final project this last semester about a missionary to Haiti. A couple of my friends from TV Production were pretty impressed and moved by it and asked for a copy. One of these friends, Ryan, said that he would have the chance to create a similar video about his experience in the Dominican Republic.

Well I ran into Ryan today as I was leaving lunch and heading back to work. I asked him how his trip was, and he had a lot to say about how much it impacted him. It was really moving to me as I remembered interviewing Brent and what he had to say about the people living in Haiti. Ryan compared the Dominican to Haiti, expressing how terribly poor they both were, but how the people were so genuinely loving. I remembered again how spolied we are.

As I was about to leave work, a lady I work with was looking at a picture on her computer. It was attached to an e-mail sent to her by a former student worker in our office. The picture was of the view of the villa he was going to be staying at in the Dominican Republic... and it was beautiful. He was going to same country as Ryan had just a fee weeks before, but his experience there will be totally different. He's not going to see the poverty, the hunger, the devestation.

And then on my way home on the radio, they were talking about how Compassion International helps out impoverished children around the world. They were saying that probabaly over 80% of the world lives in sub-standard conditions. That's pretty mindblowing. And we get upset if we don't get a certain car, brand of clothing, etc. Heck, we get upset if McDonald's gets our order wrong. And yet, 80% of the people in this world don't even live in what we would call adequate conditions. How tragic.

How blessed I am. I may have a big dent in my car, but I have a car. I may have pigment dispersement syndrome, but I have surgery and eye doctors to prevent further problems that I would probably have without them. I may not always be happy with the way things are in America, but I am living in a country that thousands, maybe even millions, of other people would do most anything to be there. And I may not have those cute $78 flats from Dillard's, but I have shoes. I have all I need. As Brent told the others and me the day we shot for the documentary, some people don't even have shoes.

It's so easy to forget these things. I was only in the poor parts of Charleston a few weeks ago, and I have barely remembered to pray for those kids as I felt so inclined to do when I first left. Those kids aren't as bad off as those in Haiti or the Dominican Republic, but they are certainly far worse than any of you reading this right now. We get comfortable. We only see things from limited, selfish worldview... but there's so much more going on that is beyond us.