By: Codi Oehlerking
All the time, either at a grocery store or at a popular store in the mall, a little kid or sometimes even teenagers cry and complain because their parents refuse to buy them the hottest new toy or a box of candy right then and there.
Nowadays, kids even cry and throw temper tantrums because their parents bought them the $300 cellphone instead of the $500 cellphone they initially asked for.
In Guatemala, on the other hand, the children and adults had the biggest smile on their faces over receiving a piece of gum.
This past summer during a week in July, I was given the opportunity to visit a couple different cities in Guatemala on a mission’s trip. I had no idea that this trip would leave such a strong impact on my life. My outlook on life changed entirely during this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
On the first day, our mission’s team spent an entire day at a school that taught kindergarten through seniors in high school. After visiting with the younger kids, they definitely were not shy to run up to any of our team members and give us big hugs as well as a goodbye. In fact, anywhere we went, the kids were more than willing to grab our hands and drag us to whatever they wanted to show us.
I myself take French in school, so there was a strong language barrier. However, it did not matter one bit to the children if we could understand each other or not. They were just excited to have someone to play with.
Never in my life have I ever met such loving children, especially towards strangers. American kids now grow up to be snobby and spoiled, making compassion a rare quality.
One of the days, we drove three hours up into the mountains to visit a village called Panimache. That day, we gathered all the kids in the village into a circle and played a game of hot potato. Before our eyes was one of the most incredible displays of sportsmanship.
When the music stopped and a child was stuck with the “potato,” instead of crying and complaining that he or she was out, the child simply got up and walked out of the circle with a smile on their face. This situation happened to every single child that got out, even down to the last two kids left in the game.
All the time in America children fight over silly little things like who loses in a round of hot potato, but the children in Guatemala didn’t seem to find it important. The people of Guatemala had very little, but they knew how to appreciate every single thing that they had.
Another day, we visited a men’s rehab center. As we were pulling up, I noticed something odd. The men were raking something, but seeing as there was no grass and no leaves around, I was confused as to what they were raking. I finally figured it out. The men were straight up raking dirt.
In America, everybody obsesses over their lawn. Who has the prettiest flowers, which has the least amount of weeds, how often the grass needs to be cut. Yet, no one ever takes a moment to sit down and think about the important things in life.
The men at this rehab center were raking dirt because that was all they had. There was no grass or pretty flowers around to attend to. They had nothing to worry about except a dirt ground, yet they still tried caring for it as if it was a beautiful lawn.
There are people in this world who are starving and have nowhere to live, yet people still worry about things as superficial as their grass.
Coming back from this trip, I have learned to never take anything for granted. I am lucky to have food on my plate or a couch to sit on while watching a television that I am lucky to be able to afford. There are so many little things in this world that we always look past, leading us to the spoiled lives that we live.
It really is not necessary to cry over not getting what you wanted. Instead, everyone should just be satisfied with what they have.