Always rely on Oprah for some perspective

I watched Oprah on Foxtel today and she was doing a show about poverty in America and about how some phenomenal percentage of the population lives below the poverty line - which isn't nearly high enough to reflect the cost of living. I know the situation is the same here, with many families being, as Oprah said, two paychecks away from poverty, meaning you wouldn't be able to afford to buy food/you would be evicted from your rented house/have the bank threaten to take your house off you if you have a mortgage/lose your job if you can't make the repayments on the car that they'll repossess so you can't get to the job that pays for the stupid car in the first place.

Perspective is a wonderful thing and there isn't nearly enough of it about. I hate the house I live in because I don't like the area and the house is so tiny but the crucial point is that I HAVE a house to live in. So many don't. I HAVE a job while so many don't. I HAVE the ability to know where my kids' next meal is coming from even if we have really tight weeks financially and we've never starved. I HAVE more than one pair of shoes. I HAVE money to get a hair colour at home even if I can't afford to go to the hairdresser. I HAVE petrol in my car to get where we need to go, if not where we might like to go. I HAVE four healthy kids, all alive and well under my roof. I HAVE a man who loves me and all of my children unconditionally, even though only two of them are his own biological children. I HAVE a hobby that I love, even if I can't spend as much time or money on it as I'd like.

I guess this is my version of a gratitude journal. For everything I have that I don't appreciate, there is someone in this world who would consider my life and all that's in it to be a dream to aspire to. I'm grateful for that moment of clarity today. Something else to scrap now.....what I am grateful for.....I think it's an important subject to think about in this day and age where nobody seems satisfied with what they have and everyone seems to want more but where does that end? Cass and I talked about it yesterday and it's true I think that the more you have the more you end up wanting. It's a life built around STUFF. No way to really live so I'll go off and ponder that some more. Let me know what you think.