the world around us

A few weeks ago, Charlie and I rented the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

For several days after we watched the movie, we discussed the intense poverty that so many people in the world experience. We discussed the unimaginable living conditions and the orphaned children that were forced to look out for themselves from a very young age.

We discussed how people in this situation are so vulnerable because they are easy targets for violence and manipulation and that cycle of violence and manipulation can so easily perpetuate in to the future without intervention.

When we went to visit with our friends the gardeners last weekend, our friend told us that perhaps part of the reason his wife tolerates their living conditions is because she is from India. She was born and raised for much of her life in a third world country. She has been surrounded by - and a part of - some of the most severe poverty conditions on earth.

She doesn't mind that her shower is moldy. She doesn't mind that there is dust on the table, or spider webs on the ceiling. She doesn't mind that her children don't pick up their toys or wear the same clothes today that they had on yesterday.

And might still be wearing, tomorrow.

Having a clean house isn't a necessity for her. It never has been. What's important is that they are alive and safe. They are fed and warm. They are healthy. They know that they will have a bed to sleep in tonight and they will have food on the table when they wake up in the morning. They know that they love each other and they are free from violence.

What else is important?

What else is really important?

Perhaps it's because the movie Slumdog Millionaire is still so fresh in my mind - or perhaps it's because of the visit with our friends this past weekend - my head has been spinning with the absolute bare minimum that it takes to get by in life.

Over the past week, I've been following several bloggers who have been recording their experiences as they travel with Compassion International to India.

The stories that they've posted on their blogs have moved me more than I expected. Each time I would click over to read what they had seen during the day, I was moved to tears. Not just tears in my eyes, but sob tears. That oh dear God, people live this way?

How?

I hear the stories. I see the pictures. I watch the movies. I cringe over the horror of desperate poverty. But soon, I forget, because it's not part of my every day reality. I don't think about it because it's not my immediate problem. I have my own life to live. I've got a career and future to contemplate.

For the past several months, I had been planning to sponsor a child in an impoverished part of the world. My plan was to actually sponsor four children, one for each of ours. My plan was that our children would write letters and send pictures and small gifts to the children that we are sponsoring. We would learn about that part of the world where our sponsored children lived, and in return, our children would develop a compassionate heart.

But I forgot.

Now, I truly believe that a good deed doesn't count if you tell the world about it. But when I recently read that 10.5 million children will die as a result of conditions induced by poverty this year, I felt like I had to do something right away. And now, I can't stop myself from telling the world about the four new children that we are honored to sponsor.

This is Eti from Bangladesh. She was born on October 13, 2004, the day before William, Carolyn and Elizabeth.

This is Elvis from Peru. He shares the same birthday as Henry, but was born three years earlier.

This is Ankit from India. One day William and Ankit will go research (chase) bears together. Ankit doesn't know this yet, but William has it all planned out.

This is Charity from Uganda. Elizabeth has already painted a picture for her that we will be mailing out soon.

All of these children were born in 2004. It is my plan that our children will grow up knowing the children that we are sponsoring. It is my goal that our children will form a lifelong relationship with the children who we have sponsored and their lives will be transformed in a positive way, because of each other.

It is my goal that we will never forget again.

If the spirit moves you to sponsor a child that desperately needs support, this is an organization that I would highly recommend.

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Several months ago, I found a blog written by a woman whose daughter, Tuesday, was battling neuroblastoma. Within a few days of my discovering her blog, little Tuesday died.

Tuesday was two-years-old when she passed away. She had been diagnosed with cancer only eight months prior. She left behind a heart broken mother and father, two older brothers and an identical twin sister.

I know how my heart breaks when my children have the stomach flu.

Watching your baby suffer and die from cancer?

There are no words.

This coming Tuesday - May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) - a blog party will be hosted in an effort to raise funds for Pediatric Cancer Research. The money raised from donations will be funneled directly to neuroblastoma reseach, which is purportedly, the least funded of all cancers. I've posted a button on the top left corner of my blog that will take you directly to the blog party.

If the spirit moves you, please pop over and make a donation for a critically important cause. Or, if you feel compelled to offer up some type of prize that could be entered in to the blog party, please drop Debi an e-mail. If I can convince Charlie to offer up one more prize, I might have another raffle up within the next few days with donations benefiting Pediatric Cancer Research.

Who needs a scarf?

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I met with my boss for lunch on Friday afternoon to conduct my annual review.

Because I was out on maternity leave during the annual reviews in 2008, the last time I met with my boss to discuss my performance and career path, I was incubating our fourth child.

Within the past two years, in addition to adding a new member to our family, the value of our home has dropped by 50%. A large percentage of the equity that we had in our house has almost completely evaporated.

Add to that, yesterday I received my retirement account statement and it appears that the steady growth I have witnessed for the past 15 years of working and saving, has taken a sharp nosedive and my 401K has been reduced to a 201K.

(I'd like take a moment to interject here how really [really, really] glad I am that I wasn't planning to retire in five years.)

When I met with my boss two years ago, my job was completely stable and using forecast software, my job would remain stable for at the next 20 years.

Since 2007, my company has made a number of decisions that may result in the phase out of my position within the next three to five years. Maybe sooner. Of course the option exists that I could accept a new position and we could move. But my new job would be in an office. And the flexibility that we have now would be gone.

So there I sat with my boss on Friday.

Slightly amazed that my current position is not indefinite, like I once thought it was. Slightly shocked that a large portion of the financial security we had two years ago has vaporized. Slightly overwhelmed of what the future holds and what our next steps will be.

But when I take a moment to reflect on what is happening in the world around me, everything falls in to perspective.

We are alive and safe. We are fed and warm. We are healthy. We know that we will have a bed to sleep in tonight and we will have food on the table when we wake up in the morning. We are part of a loving family and we are free from violence. We don't have a working ice maker at the moment. But what else is important?

What else is really important?

Oy vey. As soon as I typed that last sentence, the virus has hit me. So I think I'll conclude that having my mother live next door is suddenly very important.

(And I just noticed it is now Monday. Once again, I was right.)