poverty/ la pobreza

some thoughts on the subject, not clearly organized:

This morning I woke up with a bit of a sore throat, a stuffy nose and a wanna-be cough. Ick, I thought. It was dark outside, and I had no desire to get ready for work and walk to the bus station. I'll make oatmeal and drink tea for breakfast, I thought. At least its warm. When the oatmeal was ready I reached for my sugar and remembered !no brown sugar! They only white and raw here (I found this out when buying ingredients for cookies). Humph. And then I thought, that's it. I have no idea what it's like to be hungry. I'm complaining about not having sugar of the right consistency to add to my bowl of cereal. How pathetic. Pathetic in that I am so blessed and could even be annoyed at such a tontería, silly little thing. But now what? I realize I am extremely fortunate. What do I do about it? I went through a very idealistic phase in high school and part of college where I kind of thought I should give up the majority of my material possessions (to the "level of marginal utility" meaning to the point where giving more to alleviate suffering would cause me to suffer, and thus not solve any problems). I've kind of drifted from this idea, but not because I've somehow justified my life/lifestyle. I've come to realize that I should use my privilege for good somehow, not feel guilty about it and disown it, because others do not have the option. So what is left now is to do something with my privilege. Do something with my education. With my experiences in the world. So after this year of teaching English (hardly to suffering people for whom this will open a huge opportunity for work)... what will I do? And if I don't work for an organization that directly works toward reducing poverty/suffering... is that okay, too? Probably. It is probably okay to live, and love others, and do things of service in less "direct" ways. But I don't want to convince myself out of thinking its important. There is a lot of suffering in the world, and much of it needless. Maybe I will work to improve trade laws, so that small farmers in Latin America do not need to sell their land and move to a city to work in a factory. Maybe I will work with immigrants in the U.S. who must learn to speak English in order to survive in our society. Maybe I will teach in a school and work to inspire others to look beyond the simple things they see around them. For now, I will continue to think about these issues (and welcome any conversations on the topic!) and put white sugar in my oatmeal, being grateful that I have food to eat, among many, many other blessings. Have a great day, and don't pass up the opportunity to help someone out or simply take a few minutes to be grateful for what you have. Besos to you all.