About a month ago, St. Mumbles in the Moral Sewer Whiskeypalion (my new church home) started hosting ESL & GED classes for about 150 refugees from Africa & South Asia being resettled here in town. I've gotten to know one fellow pretty well, and saw him this morning walking to the store, so I offered him a ride.
"Taj" (not his real name) is very well educated (post-grad degrees) and speaks English passably well, so we've talked at length about the refugee camp he came from. The conditions are very poor, minuscule bamboo huts with plastic roofs crammed together in vast, muddy warrens, no electricity, no mail service, no telephone and the ever-present danger of fire, with the bright spots being good water and sewer, and that the host country allows them to take whatever jobs they can find so they at least have some income.
(More after the fold...)
Today, we were talking about how much of his meager savings he had to spend on minor surgery for his mother about a year before he came to the U.S. Then we arrived at the store, I said I'd wait and take him home; he insisted I join him, so I did.
As we walked in the door and down the entrance aisle, my senses were assaulted by dozens of "deals" on artificially flavored and colored junk food, fabric softener, plug-in air freshener refills, cake mixes & canned icing, plastic plates / cutlery, etc, etc, etc - LITERALLY to the point of nausea.
We Americans have SO much - and so much more that's ultimately just SHIT manufactured in China to fill that endless, aching need artificially created by advertisers - that it simply boggles my mind.
Right now, I am deeply ashamed of the wretched excesses of my country and its culture. To clear my soul and settle my stomach, I'm writing a gratitude list.
It'll have to be a very long one...