In response to several family member’s complaints about how “hard” life has been of late, I would like to express my gratitude for NOT having to deal with one of the following situations:
1) I am not a child missing any limbs thanks to them being blown off by a landmine in Burma.
2) I have not had any female friends or relatives who have been raped, and/or impregnated by enemy soldiers fighting a civil war in Africa.
3) I do not have to make a living scooping shit out of a community crapper in India.
4) I am not a lonely USMC Lance Corporal, stationed in the Helmand Province, wondering if I am going to get killed in action or struck by an IED today.
5) I am not living in North Korea, afraid that I will be put to death for having a bible in my home.
6) I am not living in Iran, where the government black’s out the internet in order to prevent me from having any knowledge of the outside world.
7) I do not live in fear of being killed in order for someone to sell my body fat to the cosmetic industry in Columbia.
8) I have not been maimed by a machete because I belong to a different tribe than the person wielding the machete.
9) I am not a prisoner in my own home because I live in a housing project on the South side of the “Windy City”.
10) I am not suffering from a mental health condition as a result of PTSD.
11) I have not been abandoned by my parents, who recently left Mexico hoping to find a better life across the border.
12) I don’t have to peddle calendars and trinkets, bare foot, on the streets of Bangkok.
13) I’ve never been sold into child prostitution in Russia because my parents did not have enough money to raise me.
14) I’ve never had to burn garbage and co-axle cable just to stay warm at night.
15) I’ve never had to live on a trash heap in Mumbai because my parents have been killed and I no longer have a home.
16) I am not working 80 hour weeks, knowing that if I don’t, my children will go hungry at night.
17) I do not have to spend the night on a bus stop bench, on a subway bathroom floor that smells like urine or a playground picnic table because I do not have employment.
18) I was not sold as a wife to a 60 year old Middle Eastern man for 20 cows.
19) I have not undergone the pain and suffering of female genital mutilation.
20) I do not choke on car exhaust on a busy street corner because I have to sell oranges, flowers and newspapers for a living.
21) I do not live in South Korea, with over 10,000 artillery weapons pointed in my direction.
22) I’ve never been deaf, blind AND mute.
23) I do not live in Kazakhstan, where fire is always a nightly fear during the winter because of the kerosene lantern I use to heat my wooden shack.
24) I have not been conscripted as a child soldier into the Ugandan Army.
25) I’ve never had the back-breaking task of harvesting sugar cane in Brazil.
26) I am not an elderly shut in without anyone checking up on me.
27) I’ve never had to walk 7 miles one way and back to collect water and carry it back on my head to my mother so she can start cooking breakfast, but not before watching a man water his cattle and a woman wash her family member’s clothes in the very same river water.
28) I’ve never had malaria because my family is too poor to provide me the protection of vaccinations and/or a mosquito net.
29) I’ve never had acid thrown into my face in retaliation for being a young girl, not wearing a Burqa while trying to walk to school and get an education.
Thanks for joining me, ladies!
Jared in his "Adjutant" duties
Jared, Chad and Todd
Globe and Anchor ice sculpture
Mid-night shot
11 months ago
