Some things you can never prepare yourself to see

Today we had a lecture about Sufism and how it is a great religion in India because it brings together different aspects of Hindu and Islam. This is especially great because there has been so much fighting and death between these religions in India’s history.  This lecture made me very excited to see the Sufi shrine we were about to be taken. When we arrived my excitement quickly changed to culture shock. Now I have been very blessed to see many things around the world and I thought culture shock was not possible for me but I was very wrong. When we got off the auto we walked though a large amount of people who were walking to the shrine to pray. The people walking didn’t bother me as much as the people sitting along the edges of the streets. I have seen many beggars before but my heart was not prepared to see this. I saw many men with missing hands, men with missing legs just scooting on their butts to get around.  I saw a man with huge welts all over his body. I saw a man so severely burned that most of his arm was gone. The worst though was the man with no eyes or even eye sockets. All of this in one place was too much for me to handle. It first made me wonder how the people got like that and if medical attention could have saved them but then it made me think… why not me? I am just like those people sitting on the side of the street. Why have I been born in a family that loves me and has the means to take care of me? Why did God choose me to have this life? I challenge all of you reading this blog to say thank you for what you have and realize how blessed you are. You really are one of the luckiest people in the world and I hope one day that idea can smack you across the face like it did to me today and wake you up to thank God every single day.