How we take our domesticity and living standards for granted. Watching the trauma etched on the faces of the people fleeing Guatemala to find work in Mexico and the US, it is hard, as I settle down to an evening meal knowing that after a comfortable nights sleep another similar day will come, to imagine the anxiety and stress, particularly for parents with small children, to find food and shelter for tonight. The torment of belonging to a failed state which offers no safety blanket to its poor, of knowing that the countries around are in a similar, perilously poor economic state and that the magnet to the north, the American economy has closed its doors.
How does a mother or a father provide under conditions like this. They have walked distances people which we in this country could not imagine if faced to trail their merger goods and belongs with hungry children sitting on their shoulder or trailing behind crying.
The world is in chaos through global enablement as people set their face against their own and go seek a better life. The towns of Northern Africa are full of migrants bolstered by story's of plenty in Europe. No longer isolated in their villages prepared to continue with the traditions of their parents they seek a better life elsewhere.
My head will touch the pillow tonight and soon I will be fast asleep. The fridge in the kitchen is full, my wallet has the potential to take me anywhere in some comfort, the door bars strangers and keeps me safe. How far removed I am from the people of Guatemala, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, to name a few. How the chance of birth make paupers or rich men out of us all.
How stupid we are to squabble over the slights that we imagine we see in others and how very stupid not, 'each night' to count our blessings.
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