Lucky To Be Here

More and more I realize how very lucky I am, how very many blessings I have in my life, how many things I have never wanted for or felt lacking in.

I've never really considered myself to be a "privileged" person. I have always grown up lower-middle class, knowing many people who fit more in the upper-middle class range, so I always felt a little more on the "poor" side. I have a big family, so money has always been tight and going out to eat reserved for very special occasions. I got a job as soon as I was old enough and worked two jobs for a lot of high school, paying for my own gas, clothes, and movie tickets. I always knew college would be my responsibility to pay for and when it came around, I took out the necessary loans.

Because of these things I've always thought of myself as pretty average, at least by US standards. I know compared to much of the world I'm wealthy beyond compare, but I never really considered myself to be privileged, until recently.

But here's what I'm starting to realize, beginning to understand. Yes, I had to pay my own way through college. Yes, I've always had to work and no, my parents do not cover my gas and give me a monthly allowance for food. But whether or not I would go to college wasn't the question, it was just how I'd pay for it. I always assumed I'd go to college, I've pretty much always had a car to drive and a warm bed to sleep in. I have enough shoes to wear a different pair every day of the week...for at least two weeks, if not longer (weather dependent).

And I've never wondered where my next meal was coming from. I've never known what it was like to go hungry. My budget decisions more restrict my desire to buy all organic food, rather than whether or not I can buy food at all. I am privileged to be able to even make the choice between organic and not, I am privileged to choose to eat healthy, and thus more expensive (the injustice of that is an entirely different topic I can gladly rant about).

I never really realized all of that before. How many things I'm privileged to be able to even have a choice about. Whether or not I'll take the bus, my bike, walk, or drive. Where I want to go to school, if I want to get coffee at Starbucks or brew it at home. The fact that I've never gone hungry, and I've been able to see the mountains and oceans.

That I've been on vacation, even! Having gone to a college that has many students who are pretty well off, many people are able to vacation in Europe. Measuring myself on that scale I thought how I have never been able to have that luxury, never (as shocking as this has been to many at my school), been to the museums in London or Paris or seen these cities great sites. But I realized, the fact that I've even been on vacations is a luxury many have never experienced.

It's so easy to stay focused on myself. To think how many more things others have than me, how many riches and luxuries I could have, how I'm not "rich" or even "well off." But putting my life into perspective, I'm so wealthy compared to so many around the world. I have the freedom to make choices about where I live, what I do, going to school, what I eat, what I talk about and believe. Freedom and blessings in the physical and spiritual realms. I don't worry about being punished for my opinion. The list could go on and on.

I suppose the purpose of these ramblings and realizations is that I am so, so blessed. And honestly, so privileged. And it would be far more beneficial for me to realize this, be incredibly grateful, and then see how I can use the resources I have been given to help those who have less, whatever they lack, if I can help in any way, I should.

I have not been given much so I can hoard it and gain more, like the evil dragons in so many tales. Rather I have been given much so I can use it wisely to help, love, and serve others. Freely I have received, and so freely I must give.