Blanche DuSault

Be grateful

Every morning, we wake up and go about our lives. We have breakfast, go to class, take part in sports activities, hang around with friends, study at night, and then go to sleep, only to wake up again the next morning to the same routine.

But so many little things we have we forget completely and simply take for granted: food on our table three times a day, the privilege of having a good education, a roof over our heads, the safety of this country, a bed to sleep in, and most importantly, the comfort of knowing that there is a tomorrow for yourself and everybody around you.

Not everyone in the world possesses as much as we do and we don’t realize the importance of all of it. As you probably all know, Haiti has been in poor conditions lately. One of the least developed countries in the world, Haiti has been struggling with tons of problems ranging from health crises, political upheaval, severe environmental degradation and an annual barrage of hurricanes.

On January 12, a massive earthquake struck Haiti and reduced its capital, Port-au-Prince, to mostly ruins. It resulted in an estimated half a million deaths, without mentioning all the injured victims and people left without proper shelter, food and first aid.

So today, when you go about your lives again, think of the ones who don’t have what we have. Think of the struggle they go through every day as we enjoy and take advantage of the luck we were granted. Think not only of Haiti but also every other person, men, women, children in need. Because of that, we have a right but also an obligation. We have the obligation to make the most out of what we have. And once we do that, it will prove that we deserve it all.