Very well said.

The socio/economic engineers, politicians specifically, have made life for a lot of people a rather dreary thing to endure to date. The current chaos may restore some challenge and pride in ourselves as humans. Failing that we become not much more than sheep and robotic at that.

Absolutely right on track!

I was raised in abject poverty (Mom had 4 kids and made it on less than $5,000/year), but I always had a roof over my head (except for a couple of weeks in my freshman year of college after leaving home). After putting myself through college, I was unable to get a job paying enough to support myself, so I joined the Army. My salary was $723/month plus free room and board. Even with that, I spent only $38/month for toiletries and underwear, etc. The rest went to paying off my college loans, saving for the future and purchasing a college plan.

I requested and was given my first tour overseas (Germany, where I met my south eastern Asian wife). I worked myself up in the ranks and salary increases and was making over $12,000/yr before leaving the Army to go back for my master’s degree. My wife and I had our first child immediately (10 months) after getting married and returning to the US. We started our own business (restaurant) from scratch. We continued moving up in business (managing other businesses and then moving to take a job with IBM to use my computer education until I returned to commissioned service in the Air Force.)

My wife and I never lost sight of how far God had taken us and how wonderful it was to live in a country that allowed people to move up and improve their situation. When our oldest daughter was a freshman in a mostly black high school, she was taking all advanced courses including advanced Spanish. Her Spanish teacher sent home info about the class trip they had planned. They wanted parents to pay $5,000 per kid to go to Europe for less than a week. (They were planning on taking the Spanish class to France to see the Eiffel Tower?) Most thought I was just a cheapskate, but I believed it to be bad stewardship of God’s money.

I said, “No, that would be irresponsible”. However, I did see value in showing my children how great we have it in the US, so I said I’d take the whole family to Europe the next summer for less money than they were charging. I ended up taking the whole family to 6 countries in Europe for 3 weeks (I ended up spending $7,000 though). Of course we didn’t stay in the richest American tourist hotels, but I believe the experience has stayed with them for these past 2 decades. The rooms we stayed in usually had 2 “single” beds (about 30” wide) in one room with no AC and frequently with community bathrooms. My wife and I slept very close to each other and the kids slept head to foot.

Our kids also saw that we were able to enjoy life much more in the countries where we spoke the country’s official language (my languages: German, French, Spanish, etc... were spoken in 5 of the 6 countries). Our kids also got the chance to go to the PI (my wife speaks 4 or 5 of their languages). They stayed in a 1 bedroom room house with 4 generations of people and fought off the heat and bugs (no glass in the windows).

It is easy to forget how wonderful our lives are, but an occasional glimpse into the lives of the rest of the world makes it easier. Not everybody is willing or able to work 2-3 jobs simultaneously for the majority of their lives and spend very little in order to be able to take trips to other countries, but it is possible to see a comparative study of how blessed we are simply by doing a little comparative research online.

It also helps if you have a relationship with God that encourages a more humble attitude. He is the one that gave us all we have, even the privilege of being born in the US and having the strength, intelligence and motivation to provide a good life for our families and still be able to help others. When we understand it all comes from Him, it makes it easier to share it with others.

Thank you for sharing your perspective and story with us. May He continue to bless you with this wonderful perspective.