Perspective

After I watched Mad Men again last night - Ellie was having some issues getting to sleep on Sunday night during the show so I missed some of it - I was trying to find something else to watch. I stumbled upon a documentary called Beyond Belief. And, well, oh my god.

It's about two amazing women who lost their husbands on 9/11, Susan and Patti. They are amazing in so many ways. Because they were able to not just keep life moving forward in a positive way for themselves and their children but also for women and children half a world away. They decided to help widows in Afghanistan. They partnered with CARE and raised money to help these women become self-sufficent and support their children. They decided that they really needed to travel to Afghanistan and meet these women. I was thinking "no way would I do that, too dangerous." They acknowledged the danger and their trepidation but after watching their experience there I get it.

Women and particularly widows in Afghanistan live in such poverty and in the most primitive conditions. Many can barely feed their children much less send them to school. Susan and Patti give them the tools to change that. There were a couple of moments that really struck me. First, Patti and Susan were meeting with a group of the women that they are helping and asked if any would ever remarry. They all emphatically said no. Then they explained, in Afghanistan if you remarry you must leave your children behind with your husband's family. At another point they were talking about their children and the Afghani women asked Patti and Susan to send pictures of their children and their houses. Susan started to cry and said thinking about that made her embarrassed, because she has so much and these women have so little and how it's not fair. As she said that I was having the very same thoughts.

I do have so much. I will never have to worry about feeding or educating my child. I will never have to contemplate leaving my child behind. Yes these are lean times for our family and our country. But honestly, I don't think we know what lean times really are. I am lucky, I already won the lottery, I was born in the United States. I'm not a cocky American, I don't think I'm better than anyone else because I live here. But I'm pretty damn thankful that I do live here.