I stumbled upon some old writings today, and this one caught my eye. I had originally written this when I was deployed to Bosnia and revised it while I was in Iraq. I’m sure there’s a lot that could be added to this list. What would you add?
Things We Take For Granted
What a blessing it is to be born American, in the modern age, no less. With all of our troubles and worries, never have a people had so much to be grateful for, or taken so much for granted.
Things simple:
- water pressure
- toilet paper
- privacy
- heat
- warm food
- hot water
- not knowing the smell of stench
- not having to breath burning garbage every day
- good dentistry
- the familiarity of your home town
- variety of cuisine
And things profound:
- that our children will grow up
- that our neighbors will not be waiting to kill us
- the sacrifice of the Soldier
- the love of a mother
- the bond of a comrade
- not being stuck in the class to which you were born
- not having to deal with the arrogance of the aristocracy
- not fearing the day foreign troops arrive
- not fearing the day foreign troops leave
- being able to visit your home town
- that our religion does not define who we are, who we can marry, and who we can be friends with
- that our race does not define who we are, who we can marry, and who we can be friends with
- the ability to speak your mind
- the ability to be different without persecution
- to have a variety of media that are not the mouthpiece of the government
- to live in a society where most people genuinely try to be professional
- that the media, while messed up, won’t purposefully and blatantly lie