For starters, not very many at all on this site are residents of anything resembling an impoverished country. So few as to be uncountable . . . after all, the internet, although it has become more accessible for the mainstream poor, still is, I contend, the milieu of the relatively wealthy (relative wealth in each country/region).

That being said, a decent amount of people on this site have been abroad and seen some things in some countries. I am not talking of the side trip to get some fresh mangoes at the side of the grocery store just outside the all-inclusive resort/fortress. I am also not talking of the weekend trip to a poor country, harboured within a small group of friends at some posh hotel, or attending a work conference. No - I speak of local integration, even in its briefest form - the sharing and self-experience of common, everyday travails that the poor and downtrodden go through everyday. After that hour on the chicken bus, that night in the hammock/tent, that hike through the jungle (with no ewer), even those 20 minutes in the crazy, dirty little town, looking for a payphone - one appreciates things. One understands, even for the briefest of fleeting thoughts, that we have it good. So good indeed. But somehow, two weeks later, some will still manage to complain all day about the idiot bus driver who passed by their stop, forcing them to shell out 10 bucks for a cab. One quickly forgets the two mile walk for potable water required every day by some distant villager. The dirt floors, horrifically unsanitary outdoor toilet, the ever present threat of violence from around the next corner. Damn that asshole, I'm phoning the transit authority - someone's head is gonna roll!

Well, we can certainly ensure standards, vie for perfection of services, and demand satisfaction. It's well within our rights, and I'm not saying it's wrong to do those things, but . . . it's also easy to lose sight of exactly how easy it is for us 'here'.

We have it so easy. It's funny, whenever I say that phrase, I, like many others, think of my parents relating hardships from childhood. My parents were immigrants from a war torn country, and both spent time as children running from armies, seeing death, spending time in DP camps. Fun stuff it wasn't, and later, like so many other immigrants, they worked their asses off to gain financial respectability and social integration. It was a damn sight harder life than most; but certainly, quite a few have had it worse . . . unfortunately, some of those much worse. We often say of that older generation, "It was a different era, a different time", yet those hard times continue for much of the world, perhaps most of the world.

Thinking of this past generation, and their constant reminders for us to appreciate what we have - I actually see no difference in the level of griping, bitching and complaining. I mean, between my generation, or the ones ahead of mine - and theirs. Yet the wealth of pain and hardship they endured outstrips mine by a fair bit. It all comes down to perspective, and what we have to deal with everyday, what is perceived to be normal, what is thought to be acceptable. Most people like to think they are very grateful, but most aren't, really.

Captivated by the TV, a man automatically presses the channel changer, as an image of dying, malnutritioned children surfaces. Is he an asshole because he chooses to not think about giving money to some charity, helping out victims of war and famine? I don't think so, no. But the conditioned reflex to not think for even a second about the common everyday hardships, tortures, and struggles of most of the world - this, I think, is wrong. I don't mean to say that we should be consumed by it, nor even that we all must put forward some humanitarian effort and extend a helping hand. My only contention is that we should be mindful of it. Human compassion dictates that we should try to understand, try to imagine, try to appreciate; and that we should be sorry for, saddened by, and regretful of. The only decent thing to do is to remove oneself from the insulating cocoon of wealth and wellbeing, and think of those less fortunate. This does not mean lying in a molasses-like pool of guilt thinking about it (however guilty we may be of inducing others to poverty and death, mind you), nor does it necessitate being preachy to others to give give give. Simply, it is the acknowledgement of others less fortunate. More broadly, it is respect and understanding of a highly advantaged position in life.

If only we could think of this before complaining about trivialities. Little things - nay, tiny things, that when remarked upon, make the western world look opulent and ignorant, decadent and disparaging.

We could all do with less complaints.