Gratitude

How many times a day would you say you're really thankful? I'm in this country, I'm surrounded by poverty and yet I've never experienced gratitude like I see here. In the US I, well all of us, have so much and yet we're always thinking about what we lack. In reality, there is nothing material that I really need that I am without. Here, they have next to nothing and yet they are so thankful for the little things. There was a girl here from Barcelona named Karol that left yesterday. She is 22 and also studying to be a nurse much like me and came down here to help out for a bit. Before she left, she bought a stereo for the children's home. (yeah, I figured out hogar means home :)) Anyway, when the kids saw it they were SO excited. And that's like the understatement of the year. Mama Micha, the "mother" of the 25 or so kids that live in the house ( and I have no idea if that's how you spell her name) said a prayer of thanks for the stereo that had all of us volunteers crying by the end. It wasn't anything elaborate, but the beauty was in the simple, humble gratitude. I have so much to learn from these people.