My son is with me currently in Sierra Leone.
One day while driving, he stated that he really wanted to meet someone in the U.S. who claimed to be poor. He wanted to be able to tell them exactly what poor was and how they were not.
Travel is so mind expanding.
I had the same experience in my early 20s in rural China. People living in one-room mud huts, mud floor, thatched roof, no running water, no windows. Community honey-pots for relieving oneself. It was like going back two thousand years. After seven months there, I came back to the US and swore to myself I’d never complain about anything ever again.
Good for you taking your son with you.
We talked about a statement I had read recently from an ex pat living abroad, "One of the best things about living abroad is I have learned the joy of imperfection, here unlike the states I get to take care of myself, I get to step over a hole without needing barriers to stop me, protect me. I have learned to adjust, whereas in the states I would just sit around and complain."
She got so excited with that statement and exclaimed, "we talk about that all the time here. Families with two or three kids all pile on a motorbike together, no helmets. And they are very happy and friendly." I think she is learning there are unintended consequences to the nanny state and she does not want any more of it.