Like most fat and contented Westerners, I moan about the littlest things. Ooh, my PC has crashed, or there's no semi-skimmed milk in the fridge.
I've spent consecutive evenings watching films set in Africa - Blood Diamonds and Hotel Rwanda. Now, it struck me that for a lot of Africans life is pretty tough - getting killed by gun wielding psycho's, being ignored by well meaning whites and so forth. Not once did anyone moan about anything regarding semi-skimmed milk or fucked up personal computers.
Those two films, told me a bit about Africa, but not much. I am, after all, an ignorant European who for the most part concerns himself with consumerism and other crap. Nothing that I worry about really comes down to a life or death situation - I've got my health and a wide screen TV.
But what struck me is this. I ended up occupying the flesh and bones that envelope me this very day, but who is to say that I would not have ended up a Tutsi, or a man trying to find his family in the middle of some civil war, where life is cheap?
Yes, I moan like the next person but in essence I am a very lucky person - I just don't appreciate it very much.
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