It is one thing to hear it in lectures, read it in books, or see it in a documentary. It is another to feel and experience it. When I see the concave bellies of children, the sediment filled fluid people call drinking water, the rooms which house an entire family, I am brought to tears, I feel outraged, overwhelmed, and filled with helplessness,
Whether we know it or not, we are all both victims and benefactors of circumstance. We've been born into this world with an inherent set of rules and opportunities. And for many of my friends reading this, you are with me, we are on the fortunate side of circumstance. No matter what difficulties we may be going through, we still have security of food and water, a roof that shelters from rain, and a chance to seek for a path that both fulfills and supports us. These are amenities that some of the locals I've met don't have.
While socioeconomic disparity is an issue, there are more studied scholars who can speak better to the topic. Instead, I want to talk about a different aspect of the issue: not realizing that our situation, our good fortune, is due in part to circumstance. It's like my good friend Lonnie, who sells papers by espresso Royale in Ann Arbor told me, " so many of us were born on third base but think we hit a triple."
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