1) I have 2 legs and 2 arms, and 10 fully functioning fingers. (Daily, I see more and more people without arms, legs, fingers, or all of the above. I am increasingly happy to have all of these things.)
2) I can bathe privately in clean water when ever I want. (I see alot of people old, and young bathing in the very public banks of the Tonle Sap river. I am increasingly thankful for privacy and clear unpolluted water for bathing.)
3)I don't have to beg for a living, and never will. (I always try to think about what the mentality of a beggar is. It is hard to imagine. It must become such a routine thing.... Doing the same thing everyday for years and decades even. Asking foreigners for money when they are blatantly extremely more rich than them, only to have the foreigners most always decline. What do they feel? Annoyance, restentfulness, maybe they don't even think about it anymore.)
4)I don't have to worry about stepping on landmines in my day to day life. This would be a horrible thing to worry about, and most rural Cambodians do have to worry about this, as there are still an estimated 6 million live land mines in this country!!
5) I do not have children, and at 20 years old get to be selfish and have myself as my first priority and do things for myself. (I am appreciative of this when seeing all the very young Cambodian girls, probably about my age, that have one, two, three maybe more children! At only 20 years old, they don't get to experience this freedom of youth that I am experiencing now. They have children already which they must feed. I cannot even imagine having children at this age. Thank god!! I am enjoying this freedom of youth immensely, also maybe it is the freedom of having some money.)
6) All my family and friends are alive and well, and they all have 4 limbs.
7) I am blessed with this travel experience and freedom.
8) Books!
9) Cambodian street food, need I say more.
10) My hiking boots. Thank god for those.
11) Relative carefreeness. My cares are pretty free as well... How to get to the next location, what to eat, where to go next, etc...
12) Grilled squished bananas... one of my fave Cambodian street foods
13) Not being scared of the unknown.
14) I have a bed to sleep on.
15) I have never had to personally go through a war, and probably never will. (Iraq doesn't count.)
16) Being able to meet alot of really cool, interesting people on the road who I share intersts with.
Well... The list ended up being 16, but I have alot of things to be thankful for! What writing this, at times I think I sound like a spoiled person. Like the part about me being able to be a selfish 20 year old. I don't really think I'm spoiled, but I think I am really, really lucky that I have been granted the ability to be selfish at the age of 20. I think 20 years old is the time to be selfish and do things for yourself. Anyway, I am just really really really lucky.
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