Through a Different Window

A friend recently updated her Facebook status update by saying "We are so blessed!!!" followed by a link to an article that showed pictures of different children and their bedrooms in various parts of the world. I didn't become upset with her for her status update... There are many variations of our take on the world around us. It all depends on the window by which you look through.

http://news.distractify.com/culture/childrens-bedrooms-across-the-world/?v=1

As I read through the article, the author led me to believe that we should feel sorry for these children because they are not like us. Most don't have beds like we are accustomed to. Most don't have enclosed walls, or furniture like we enjoy. The first boy doesn't even have a roof over his head. Some have no walls to block the wind and rain... The convenience of exterminators to kill the bugs... Fresh paint, ceiling fans... brightly colored toys! At the end of the article, the author goes on to assume that these children will never have a chance in life because they're raised in "harsh environments." The author then insists that everyone who was fortunate in youth, should reach out and help others have the same opportunities.

I DISAGREE!

Look around... Our children are blinded by cell phones, game systems, the luxury of having most everything handed to them from the moment they're born. As babies, we strive to fill their every need with soft blankets and warm wipes on their bums during a diaper change. We feed them the moment they cry from hunger. They never have want. They never suffer from need. (Not all babies are this fortunate... but I speak for many.)

The children pictures in this article, I can only imagine, are not suffering. A child who knows not of greater things does not suffer, but rather lives with bigger dreams and higher hopes. Look around! Even the most spoiled Americans have never known Heaven... These "disadvantaged" children probably have parents who love them. They're surrounded in conditions much like their own, in countries where poverty runs rampant. Who are we to come charging into the only life they've ever known and whisk them away and enforce our comforts on them? Who is to say that the way we live is truly the BEST way to live? Certainly, we love it.... but have you ever experienced their pleasures, through their window?

I can guarantee, that if you remove a child from this type of environment... they could learn to love the American way... but there will be a part of them that craves for their ceiling of stars at night...