Monthly Archive

We are spoiled.  And by “we” I mean Americans.  I know that’s a gross over-generalization, and I know there are certainly exceptions to that statement.  With that said, I do think that as a culture, as a group of people, we are pretty damn spoiled in comparison to some other cultures.  There was a discussion about this at work just last night amongst myself and two other nurses I was working with.  One of them had spent a considerable amount of time in Bolivia and I’ve spent some time in Guatemala.  Granted, not a lot of time in Guatemala, but two trips each approximately two weeks in length.  Enough time to begin to get a feel for the culture.  We agreed that we both came back to the United States feeling very blessed and spoiled and no longer taking things for granted we had taken for granted before.  Things like clean drinking water, enough money to put a roof over your head or afford basic transportation, things like that. 

Two examples from my trips to Guatemala stand out in my mind to make my point.  During the first trip I was speaking through an interpreter to an older woman and she was telling me that she had pain in her neck often (most likely from carrying heavy baskets on her head frequently) and approximately two years earlier there had been an American medical team there in town and they had given her some small white pills that really helped the pain.  She was hoping this American medical team could give her some more.  I found out that those little white pills she’d been waiting approximately two years for were ibuprofen.  Yes, just ibuprofen.  She didn’t have any money or transportation to the pharmacy to buy them.  Even if she’d been able to get the pharmacy, she wouldn’t have had the money to buy them.  Ibuprofen.  Something most of us give no thought to picking up on a quick trip to the store while you’re out running errands.  But to this woman, it was a big deal to get these pills.

On my second trip there was another example of  things we take for granted.  A boy and his grandparents traveled for two full days to get 100 miles from their home to where we were setting up a clinic and doing some surgeries because the boy needed an eye surgery.  They spent most of the two days walking.  That was the only way they could get to us.   A 100 mile trip is not a big deal to most of us.  A two hour trip, roughly.  But to this family it was a real ordeal. 

We really are a pretty spoiled culture.  As are most citizens of “industrialized” countries.  But we sometimes forget about millions of citizens of third world countries who fight for things we take for granted.  There are so many things we see as necessities that they see only as luxuries. 

There is a coastal town in Oregon where I lived as a child and again as a young adult.  This town hasn’t changed all that much over the years.  I am planning on moving back to Oregon in the near future and yesterday I spent the day having some minor car maintenance done to prepare my car for the drive.  So moving back “home” was very much on mind.  There is a rural two lane highway leading into this small coastal town I’ve driven on far too many times to count over the years.  There is a spot on this road where you go around a slight bend in the road and down a slight incline and suddenly this wondrous view of the ocean opens up to you and the smell of sea salt in the air can’t be ignored.  You can see the ocean about a mile ahead and it looks as though it just goes on forever.  I was on the couch reading and relaxing last night and closed my eyes and for just a moment I could see that scene so clearly I was there.  I could see the blue of the ocean almost melting into the blue of the sky so you can hardly tell where one ends and the other begins.  I could see the green, lush trees to the side of the road.  I could smell the tangy salt air that is just so clean and refreshing that once you’ve smelled it, the memory of that smell stays with you always.  I couldn’t help but break out in a smile.