Cambodia

I never tire of driving through a country like this, looking out the window of the car, or even better, from the back of a taxi motorbike with the warm humid wind rushing all over me. So many children running around playing, some chasing eachother through trees and their parents side-road lean-to shops, others competing for the few nuts remaining in the high tree tops, each one taking turns to fling the stones hoping to be the victor who would take the prize home, others lying still in their hammocks in the heat of the day. , others carrying younger siblings, even when they are barely walking themselves, some kicking bottles in a much anticipated soccer game against the kids from the other end of the village… all in innocent joy…..and these are tagged as poor poverty struck children? Hardly. I don’t know which I would prefer to see… kids running around playing together, or children glued to the tv every morning and afternoon, and when they are not doing that, they are on their gameboys and nintendos in their rooms….. interesting comparisons. What a rich childhood for these Cambodian children…who know how to untangle and fix fish nets after the afternoon of fishing in the recently filled waterhole from the rainy season, and bringing some small fish home for their family, before they are even 8 pr 9 years old…who have a responsibility for their siblings lives as soon as there is a younger brother or sister. I have seen countless times a 3 year old kid guiding their 1yr old sibling away from the danger of the road when in our country they wouldn’t even know how to keep themselves from danger… These half clothed kids are so good and making makeshift toys too… anything from flowers to rocks to straw. Very creative. A simple life. Such a foreign concept for me. My life is spent rushing from one thing to the next. I saw a mother just standing watching the beautiful sun set over green rice paddies as if she hadn’t a care in the world….. when was the last time that I did the same without being pulled away by pressures of my next appointment. So what is the difference between the two scenarios of her life and mine?? Is it merely the absence or presence of wealth? Is it the fact that I am so materialistic that I cannot “waste” a moment that could be spent attaining something like money, social status, self-satisfaction or entertainment? Can I learn from her to be content with the fact that I have a roof over my head, even if it is straw, and have a meal on the table, even if it is only rice and some beans? Is she happier than me? Is it about happiness or is it really about being content with what you have, and what you DON’T have. Is it a bad thing that I can eat what I want, when I want, buy what I want when I want and go wherever I please. I sometimes wish I was born into the “other” side of the world. Maybe then I would have time for God, more than a few rushed moments in time a day. Maybe then I would really live my life how it was meant to be……working the fields, eating my own produce…instead of spending a lifetime in front of my computer or indulging in self gratification. What would happen if all of a sudden I was in her life, and she swapped to mine? Would people that know me notice a change? Would I become more giving, sharing, grateful, worthy of the things that I have? Would the people that know her notice a change in her?? How would I live my life as her? Would I sit and cry because I don’t have this or that, or cry out to the rest of the world to notice me and my poor situation and wonder how no one is helping me?? Or would I get on with life and live?.