Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Stuart G

(38,726 posts)
Mon Dec 25, 2017, 08:19 PM Dec 2017

Today, I experienced a special moment. A story from a person with an amazing experience..

I am leader of a spiritual meeting on Monday mornings. This happened today The subject was..
"gratitude" (Christmas morning , 12/25/17)
.
.Being grateful for what we have. I was thinking for a few days about what to say (the leader gives a short lead, - 5 to 7 minutes on a subject from a book.) What do I say on Christmas morning? What am I grateful for? I thought about this. I decided to talk about simple things like running water, electricity, heat, etc. The meeting was in a very old church, ( I would say about 140 years old, maybe older) and I noticed that the church had gas pipes that were used for lighting before electricity was installed all over) So I showed the 8 people at the meeting, the gas pipes that were sticking out of the walls with covers on them, permanently shut off. I also said, that I had a student in one of the high school classes that I taught, that came from poverty on another continent, and he grew up in a small town without electricity. (just to say that has happened in places as recently as 35 years ago)

Here is what happened. A member of the group spoke up, and said he was in the Peace Corp in the 70s and was assigned to a country in Africa, (don't remember which one) in a town somewhere with no electricity or running water. He said that he had to ask one of the local teenagers..(I think he paid them) to get his daily bucket of water. He had some kind of portable gas stove that he used to cook, (boil the water to remove impurities) and commented that in his compound where he lived, there was a hole in the floor in a room (what was a bathroom) where he took a "poop" This member was not the kind of person that would make this up. Here was someone in the room who had an experience with no running water, no heat, and no electricity. And what he did to deal with this.

Live and in person, someone I knew over the years from meetings who had this experience in the 70s in a town somewhere in this world, with no electricity, no heat, or running water. Something we all take for granted, yet is extremely important in life. Something we all should be grateful for. Why? It has only been the last 140 years at most, that we have had these important everyday tools. I told the member that his experience was incredible, and he needs to share it. We have so much, and what we think about is often so little....
...
(Yes, I think about "so little" often, but after today, much less).......

4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Today, I experienced a special moment. A story from a person with an amazing experience.. (Original Post) Stuart G Dec 2017 OP
Unfortunately, there are areas of our own country where people live in conditions Arkansas Granny Dec 2017 #1
This country Timewas Dec 2017 #2
And I thought if you had my life, HopeAgain Dec 2017 #3
years ago in cudahy, wi, south of milw, i did an estate sale at a 1800's house. pansypoo53219 Dec 2017 #4

Arkansas Granny

(31,753 posts)
1. Unfortunately, there are areas of our own country where people live in conditions
Mon Dec 25, 2017, 08:35 PM
Dec 2017

that you would only expect to find in third world countries.

Hookworm, a disease of extreme poverty, is thriving in the US south. Why?

Children playing feet away from open pools of raw sewage; drinking water pumped beside cracked pipes of untreated waste; human faeces flushed back into kitchen sinks and bathtubs whenever the rains come; people testing positive for hookworm, an intestinal parasite that thrives on extreme poverty.

These are the findings of a new study into endemic tropical diseases, not in places usually associated with them in the developing world of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, but in a corner of the richest nation on earth: Alabama.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/hookworm-lowndes-county-alabama-water-waste-treatment-poverty


Timewas

(2,264 posts)
2. This country
Mon Dec 25, 2017, 10:42 PM
Dec 2017

Is on a steep, steep spiral downward, we are already below par of several third world countries and are in a race to the bottom...

HopeAgain

(4,407 posts)
3. And I thought if you had my life,
Mon Dec 25, 2017, 11:28 PM
Dec 2017

You would drink too. Turned out, very few have had it as good as I did. Gratitude is best if we turn it into generosity because it is selfishness that makes us poor.

pansypoo53219

(21,572 posts)
4. years ago in cudahy, wi, south of milw, i did an estate sale at a 1800's house.
Tue Dec 26, 2017, 01:52 AM
Dec 2017

no kitchen, no central heat. the old lady who grew up their basically lived in the basement w a huge gorgeous 1880's wood stove + an out house til the 50's. just a toilet + sink. she gathered any wood she could find to burn. i bought her old saw.

Latest Discussions»Support Forums»Addiction & Recovery»Today, I experienced a sp...