Monday, March 22, 2010

Didn't They Realize Their Life Was Horrible?

Ethan Zohn wrote about how a visit to an economically devastated village changed his perspective on life. His full article is featured at EcoSalon.


Many of the residents of Namuwongo are faced with the challenge of deciding how to allocate their families’ income between health, nutrition, or other basic needs, yet they invited me into their homes and offered me tea and biscuits. Let me rephrase that, theses struggling, poverty-stricken angels proudly welcomed me into their dilapidated shacks and showed me their life like an Olympic athlete shows off a gold medal. How could they be so happy? Didn’t they realize their life was horrible? And that’s when it hit me, a sense of calm filtered through my anxious body. These folks are doing OK; they are happy to be alive. This community does not have any choices in life — they have been dealt a crappy hand. But collectively they have chosen to be happy for their existence on this planet, in whatever form that may take.