It's hard to imagine...

I am not writing this post at anyone. I'm not writing it to make people mad. I'm writing it to provoke thought and possibly, a bit of gratitude.

A part of social media that I really dislike is the attention to negativity. I hate it and I know many others that do too. But the fact is, good news doesn't sell, unfortunately. When we were in the states, I would get caught up with the news/social media articles and almost developed a self loathing towards my country. How can so many crappy things happen where I live, I'd often wonder. I'd start to think about how unsafe, unhappy, unpatriotic, uneducated, etc. that the world seemed. Moreover, my country.

But then I stepped away from my country and moved to another. And in moving to another, I became closer to other countries and found myself digging deeper and wanting to know more about them. I began reading, talking, questioning and learning and here is what I do know for sure.

In the United States, we are not faced with news like this:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/17/world/africa/sudan-christian-woman-apostasy/index.html
A Sudanese women who is pregnant and sentenced to death from refusing to renounce her Christianity.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/11/world/africa/nigeria-escaped-schoolgirl-speaks/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
A school girl who escaped from the Boko Haram in Africa

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/05/17/west-outlines-plan-to-crack-down-on-boko-haram/
Another on the Boko Haram who has established ties with other terrorist groups in Africa.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/13/world/meast/syria-homs-survivors-stories/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
The unrest and fear in Syria

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/12/opinion/dirty-water-child-killer/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
A leading childhood killer. In the U.S. we are fortunate enough to have access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/05/17/venezuela-opposition-meeting-talks/9187967/
The unrest in Venezuela. I spent an hour talking to a woman from Venezuela yesterday. She worries for her parents safety every.single.morning. The government has begun to take over television channels, businesses are being shut down, citizens don't feel safe in their own neighborhoods. Don't even get me started on North Korea. There were many parallels.

While Americans are up in arms over the Common Core, there are girls ALL OVER THE WORLD who would give anything for the freedom JUST TO GO TO SCHOOL. Our problems suddenly don't seem as big when I open my mind to the issues plaguing humanity beyond our borders. It's tragic that a pregnant woman is jailed with her toddler because she won't renounce a certain faith. It's unfathomable to me that there are millions of people all over the world who don't have access to clean water, and it's sickening that hundreds of school girls have been kidnapped in the name of 'education being a sin.'

I understand the passion and frustration that is happening in the states. I do. And I like to think people come from the best intentions. I also hope people's intentions are to better our world, not to create more controversy. We need more compassion.

The world is mighty big and yet so very, very small. I know that when I read articles like those above, I go to sleep with a heavy heart for the pain people are facing around the world and a bit more gratitude towards the country I call home.