A day of perspective

We had a lovely day this weekend just gone. Found a beautiful place to sit in the warm sunshine with a cool breeze blowing. We bought treats from a nearby coffee shop and sat on the grass to enjoy them while the little ones played and danced. Here are some photos of our day.

 It was joyful and completely and utterly glorious. The little ones had a ball, and so did we. Not long after that, Miss C needed some new shoes, as her other pair were falling apart AGAIN, so we drove to the shopping centre and bought some for her. 
All in all, a wonderful day. 

Once we were home, I sat down and logged into facebook to see what my friends had been up to. This article  caught my attention. 
And it put a whole new  perspective on my day. I had been reading about the problems in Somalia, wondering like so many others why there wasn't more media coverage, feeling sad and a sense of helplessness at what I was reading, and being grateful for what my life was like. 

But this article was different for me. The raw honesty in it by the woman who travelled there really struck me. She made me see in my mind, for the first time almost, what millions of people were going through. And they were going through it at the same time that we were having our wonderful day. At first I felt like we had no right to be so happy while others were suffering so much. And maybe we don't. But as time has gone on (I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now) my knee jerk reaction has lessened somewhat. 

What I've been left with is an overwhelming sense of luck. I am one of many who won that lottery when I was born. I wasn't born into poverty, and thankfully, neither have my children. I was lucky to be born into a part of the world with few serious problems. It's not that we're any more or less deserving of happiness and safety than anyone else in the world, but we are incredibly lucky that we have it. And perhaps what we should be doing is living our lives to the fullest, because to do anything less is taking what we have for granted. 

Now you may or may not agree with me, because I'm sure everyone has their stance on world affairs, but I am never going to take for granted the life I have again. I know this, because that article and all the others will be in my memory. 
I am going to be ever so grateful that I can feed my children, that we can play in a park in the sunshine, that I can buy them new shoes, that we can walk the streets in relative safety and that our home is full of love and laughter. 

And for those millions in Somalia? I will donate to an aid organisation like UNHCR  or UNICEF  who are over there doing what they can to ease the suffering of so many. I will try to raise awareness of this crisis through my small social media world in the hope it will inspire others to donate. And every night, I will kiss my babies goodnight, and let my thoughts drift for a moment to mothers everywhere doing the same and hope that they are safe and fed as well. 
These may be small things, and it may be a vain hope, but it's all I can do. 

So I hope you all live your lives with much joy and gladness as well. Be thankful for the securities of your home, family and income. Those things allow most of us to live a life of comfort and safety. The famine in Africa is so far beyond my comprehension it's not funny. And how can I possibly understand when I've never experienced it? But we can appreciate every second of the blessed life we do live.