“I Grew Up Poor, But Only Because Everyone Else Had Money.”

Did you know that in some countries people lend to each other their very last piece of rice? Did you know they laugh and sing with joy in their huts of mud? And when you ask them why they share and smile when they are obviously the poorest of the poor they’ll look at you with confusion as if to ask you, “We’re poor?”

Isn’t that wonderful? That they’re not poor in their mind, and thus not?

For you see, they have nobody constantly telling them what they lack. Alas, I grew up in America – the land of commercials, billboards, and magazines. The land where everything around you tells you how much you lack.

I grew up poor, but only because everyone else had money.

I can’t tell whether this is the better way or not. I can’t tell whether this is happiness born of a higher plane, or one born from ignorance. But I will tell you this, those people that laugh and smile with mud covered faces while their bellies grumble with hunger – they are richer than me.

Falsely yours,
Yokoo Gibraan