What a bunch of whiners we are! (Part 2)

Modern Conservative ^ | June 25, 2008

[thinkingIsPresuppositional]

What a bunch of whiners we are! (Part 2)

In What a bunch of whiners we are, I reported on some really shameful poll numbers describing an America where people think things are just soooooooo terrible. I tried to get the point across that things are NOT so terrible, and that we should all stop whining.

Apparently, America didn't get the message, otherwise Mr. I'll give you hope and change never mind what it will be I said change damn it change wouldn't be riding so high in the polls.

So let me say it again. The fact that Jen wasn't thrown off of Hells Kitchen soon enough is not a problem. You want problems?

These people have problems:

Hard times force parents to send eldest son to orphanage

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Ahri's chin quivers, and his large dark eyes fill with tears the 11-year-old can't control.

"Be tough. I am sorry you have to go," his grandmother whispers while hugging him.

His parents are taking Ahri to live in an orphanage. They swear they are not abandoning their son.

"I am not throwing my child away," says his mother, Nuraini, wiping away tears.

"I just want him to get a proper education. I hope that one day he'll do something useful for this country and help his brothers, because we are living in poverty."

The family lives crammed into a home that's 17 feet by 17 feet in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Jakarta. Nuraini runs a small shop the family opened to try to make ends meet. Ahri's father, Joni Lubis, collects bottles from the streets, selling them to plastic and glass factories.

Ahri's parents make $2 to $3 a day, with about half of that going toward their daily rent. With the increased cost of living, what's left just isn't enough to send Ahri to school and to feed him and his two brothers, 3-year-old Mohammed and 7-month-old Eka Jaya.

"I never imagined it would come to this," Nuraini admits.

 

Now THOSE are problems.

Most of us are so far removed from stuff like that because of the greatness of our system, our nation, and our ideals. Forgetting all of that—losing perspective and forgetting why we have it so good—puts it all at risk.

I know it's tough, because everything is relative, but we need to remind ourselves everyone once in a while about the FULL spectrum of things, from terrible to wonderful on the FULL scale, not on our much smaller, more successful scale.

[knittnmom]

Just spent a week in a community where having an outhouse built raises the family’s standard of living. I have SO little patience this week for computer problems.