When I was just 3, a baby, a child,

My mother would tell  me, of course with a smile,

Eat your vegetables dear and don’t look so sour,

For there are children in Africa starving by day and by hour.

 

To take this to heart seems iffy at best,

But we live in a country where even the poor are blessed.

 

Simple things we take for granted:

A drink from the tap, an election unslanted,

Safety for yourself, your family, and your community,

Hospitals that almost grant us immunity,

A family that loves, and if that fails, protection,

Even the chance to have some wifi connection.

So many things about our life are so easy,

It makes the challenges look a little more breezy.

But what shocked me the most, upon traveling round,

Is that people in poorer countries, I’ve found,

Do not wish for more, and are simply happy,

And find in the little things something just snappy,

Be it the smile of a child that they can call their own,

Or the hand stitched beauty of the clothes they have sewn.

They may not always be able to provide,

But that is unnecessary, because what matters is inside,

Of the home, the family, the individual and his mind,

And it is that kind of outlook that makes everything shine.