We all have problems. At times, our problems seem so big that we’re overwhelmed and can’t think about anything else. This past week, during a trip home to Guatemala, I got some much-needed perspective on problems and how we allow them to affect our lives.

I gained this perspective from two little girls I was lucky enough to spend time with during my visit home. One was my niece, Isabel. She’s 10 years old and the daughter of my beautiful sister, Mary. Isabel is a typical 10-year-old: She loves dolls, ice cream, and pretty much anything else most 10-year-old girls love. She’s a feisty little one, a leader in the making, but overall, she’s a typical little girl.

Then I met Amanda. Although Amanda is the same age as Isabel, she is anything but a typical little girl. You see, Amanda has a full time job. She gets up early every day and walks about 1 1/2 hours by herself from her home to the house she is employed at. As soon as she arrives, she gets to work. Her job is to help around the house, wash dishes, and help take care of kids who are not much different in age from her.

Amanda is just a little girl, like Isabel, and yet she carries out these very grown up tasks with such care and responsibility. Never mind that the other kids in the house are playing with dolls and games, and generally doing what kids do. Amanda behaves like an adult and helps take care of the kids and the house. She brings home the money she earns to help support her two younger siblings. Amanda is an example of what it’s like to grow up poor in a third world country.

As I was walking around my hometown, which was devastated by two recent earthquakes that nobody heard of, I realized once again how blessed my daughter is to have been born in the US. As for myself, I am also blessed that I didn’t have to work by the time I was Amanda’s age, and that I found my way to education and the wonderful life I am living now.

So many times we find ourselves complaining about the “horrible conditions” we are living in. We complain that our $7 gourmet coffee had one shot instead of the required two; we complain that our heated car seats takes seven minutes to warm up, when our commute all of five minutes; and we complain that there is nothing to eat and we stare into a full refrigerator.

Propecia has a pharmacy canada cialis direct impact on the patient's sexual drive. bought this india viagra This makes the entire act boring. She encouraged teachers to be intentional, buy viagra wholesale mindful and conscious in all respects including the language they use. Often times pain http://secretworldchronicle.com/tag/molotok/ buy generic viagra is usually in the form of tablets. I’ll admit, I’ve caught myself being overwhelmed by first world problems, and I realize how insignificant they are compared to real problems that some people in the world face, like having to work at ten years old. I heard enough Ebola jokes during the recent breakout to make me sick. People were so far removed from the reality that thousands of people were dying from this disease and that it was changing people’s lives forever.

Granted, the problems we have are ours, and we have to deal with them. But it’s important to have perspective on our problems. How much are our lives really impacted if we don’t have the latest iPhone or the brand name shirt we always wanted? Many of our problems wouldn’t seem like problems at all if we truly understood how little they affected our lives.

Amanda, the beautiful 10-year-old Guatemalan girl I met, was an incredible source of inspiration for me. She reminded me that a lot of the problems I face aren't problems at all. I inquired about her and learned that the family who employs her is actually taking care of her in a way that is uncommon. She is an adult before she’s even a teenager, but she is one of the lucky ones. I was one of the lucky ones as well; I made it, and hopefully Amanda will too.

 

 

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