Sometimes we need a little perspective. Yes, I travel lots, but there are other people that travel more then me. Yes, I think that having 3 children is heaps but there are so many more people out there that have more. Yes, sometimes I need to watch my spending habits but I am among the world wealthiest groups of people. And even today, I was thinking briefly about how annoying it was to sit on a small plane from Sydney to Bathurst, actually there was only 7 people on a 30+ seater plane. Yet there are so so so many more people out in the world that do not get the opportunities that I do yet I still think these things. Have I lost perspective on what really goes on around the world?

From Tasmania to Sydney, I talked to a guy that had a bandage on his right wrist, and curiosity got the better of me so I asked him what happened. He said that He just flew in from Afghanistan and had a bomb blast that went off near him, he then went on to explain that he nearly lost his hand in the blast. He then told me about the guy that was standing next to him, and he was not as lucky and lost both of his legs in the blast. He is now in USA being fitted with prosthetic legs.

Now looking at the last few weeks and thinking how many times did I complain? I think about how many times do we take everything for granted and then we think about how many hours over the past few weeks we may have just done absolutely nothing. Wow, if I look at it this way and then look at what this guy has gone through, really makes me think about perspective.

I watched a movie last night called ‘Marley and Me’. It’s got Friends star Jennifer Aniston in it and Owen Wilson. It is all about a dog, and I’m sure for a Dog lover has the potential to put a tear in ones eye. Now for the record, I have nothing against dogs, I just treasure people more then animal, or dog. Maybe I’m just a radical humanitarian, but I get awfully saddened when I see millions upon millions of dollars poured into animal rights and saving whales etc but what about people??? Now in fear of sounding completely heartless towards animals… why the heck are we spending time, money and resources on animals when there are still people in the world dying of basic needs such as clean water and food.

This just sounds so basic for me but the western world would tend not to agree. The reason I could justify this comment is a news story I read recently about 2 movies, Slumdog Millionaire and Marley and Me. They are both inspirational stories of love. Both have a story about believing in something and having faith. One has a sad ending, the other a happy ending. One shows the reality of poverty and realness of life and the other shows a story of life with no real problems. One is a story about people and rising out of burdens & problems to find love and opportunities through life experiences and the other is all about a dog. At this stage Marley and Me is selling DVDs sales better then Slumdog Millionaire….. Why??

For the record, Slumdog is not about a dog…