Didn't You Know Your Life Sucks? Here, Let Me Show You...

I was watching the ol tube last night and one of those "feed the starving people" commercials came on and it got me to thinking. These people were living their lives as they know life to be. Doing what they know had to be done. Feeding their families. Playing with their children. And, most likely, enjoying themselves. This is their life. This is all that they know. Without going into a whole other issue there's a big part of me that believes they are living a better life. And then enter stage right mr. khaki pants with is tv crew and his bottled water telling them that "their life is horrible!" "who could live in these conditions!" "you have no idea what you're missing out on!" "here, let me show you through this majic picture box just how you could be living." "the whole world feels sorry for you - don't you realize how bad off you are?" now, who knows what is going through these peoples heads once mr. khaki leaves their once peaceful town. with knowledge of the world beyond their imaginations are they feeling sorry for themselves? are they wishing that they had satellite television and ipods and freeway traffic? i would hope that they pity mr. khaki, living in his cement "paradise". maybe they are a little angry that mr. khaki is apparently destroying their world high rise by high rise. these people have it right. they are the people who will know how to sustain life once the rest of us demolish this planet. would i give up all of my modern conveniences to go and live as they do? no - because this life is all that i know, and i wouldn't have the faintest clue how to live without. should we feel sorry for those people who don't live like we do? absolutely not.