What it Means to Be Rich

You are rich.

When I tell you this, you laugh and say that you aren’t. But you are.

Today we visited The Compassion Experience where we walked through a re-creation of the life stories of children living in poverty.  We walked through their homes and saw the rooms these children grew up in. We heard the sounds of drunk men trying to pound in the door. We learned about child brides and girls dropping out of school at the age of seven so they could work to support the family.

And we learned that we are rich.

Being rich means never being hungry. It means that your full-time job is to go to school. It means that you get to choose who (or if) you want to marry. It means that your home is warm when it’s cold outside. It means that you are encouraged to use your voice to help others. It means that you are loved deeply and unconditionally.

There were children in these stories who were never, ever told that they were loved.

When you heard that, your mouth dropped in disbelief. Of all the things you saw today, the one thing that was completely outside your understanding, was that a child was not shown love.

You are loved. You are warm. You are fed. You are empowered.

And you are rich.

Image by Zoriah