Finding a Purpose Beyond Starvation....

I read that people who keep track of what they are grateful for are more likely to achieve their professional and personal goals. So I am jumping on the "things I am thankful for" bandwagon. First thing: "We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death which, lest we forget is the common lot." From Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. 
Indeed, we in this country do not realize that our lives, and our comforts, are by far the exception, not the rule. Running water. Clean water. Immunizations. Education available to all/required for all (no keeping the oldest boy home to take care of the farm; no keeping the girls home to haul water and firewood). Social programs that ensure that kids do not starve to death (hunger is a problem here, but not starvation). So, I am thankful for having arrived unbidden into this country. What a stroke of good fortune. And I am thankful to have the opportunity to change things for the better around the globe.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from a guesthouse rooftop. A city of four million people, most without running water or electricity. Homes cobbed together out of scraps of corrugated metal. Dirt floors. Cooking takes place over cook fires. The literacy rate is said to be approximately 17 percent.
This is not just Ethiopia's reality; it is the reality of most of people all around the world.

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