What we take for granted

I saw this video on another blog and was very moved by it. I had to share it. It's a few minutes long, but it's very moving. So many of us take everyday things for granted. Our cars, our power tools, our water, our bathrooms even our toothpaste! We have been to a third world country and have witnessed that some people do not have anything and the smallest of gifts or what seems like the smallest gift to us, can mean a lot to someone else. Our trip to China in September 2004 changed our perspective on a lot of things. I really don't think you can grasp what it means to live in poverty until you see a country like China first hand. Allison is from a very small town west of Nanchang in Jiangxi province called Tonggu. We were fortunate enough to visit there and it was an amazing site. The town was nestled below mountains that were lush green. It was a farming community and really beautiful. The air was a lot cleaner than it was in Nanchang where pollution was high. It truly was a remote place and it was evident that the people there were not accustomed to seeing white Americans. I am grateful for that trip because it humbled me and made me appreciate all that I have that much more. Please take a few minutes out of your day to watch this video. (Within the next month, I will finally have our journey to China loaded on this website. I am excited to know that I can still obtain it from the website we used when we traveled to China.)

http://http://www.glumbert.com/share/waterbuffalo

P.S. The novelty of the construction has worn off. I am tired of having the refrigerator in the living room, tired of eating take-out, tired of tripping over boxes and tired of drywall dust that is EVERYWHERE. I had to write about something different tonight.