We Americans are so fat. So soft, so lazy, so pathetic. This isn't meant to be a "we suck" post, but here in DC, as I run my ass up and down three flights of stairs six or sixteen times a day moving in, I can't help but think of this woman. I have power, electricity, potable water, flushing toilets, an internet connection (dial up for a while), DVDs to entertain me as I load up the closets and put away my shoes, decor, food and drink in the fridge...the list of luxuries goes on and on.

What if I lived in the Sudan? An industrial province in China, or Mexico? What if I were a religious minority in a theocratic state like Iran? Yes, I'm bone tired. Too tired to blog, and yet- I know this is nothing. I'm not standing in a line with all my precious belongings in tow, waiting for a lucky lottery selection for a passport to a European country in hopes of escaping sectarian violence, worried for my life. I have some cash, a few friends, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food in the fridge (although, the middle eastern place shafted me on my order of tabbuoli tonight).
I really can't whine or bitch.

Stop complaining, and get off your ass. Life is very, very good here, your ancestors would've died to be in your place. If you're a woman, doubly so. 655,000 Iraqis, literally millions of Asians, countless people in South and Central America would kill or die to change places with you, or send family to your position. At least I have to luxury of listening to a man (right now) threaten one of our neighbors in Spanish; as her stereo is too loud. I don't forget the irony.

DC, for all its faults, is pretty civilized. I can see why the pundits don't grok the damage they do. To those here, life is a close version of Euro lite. The more I walk around, the more I get it: the consultant and pundit class need to spend a forced vacation in South Dakota, and Mississippi, and Grand Rapids, for six months. They have no idea that the world isn't filled with hip, rich, gay, funny multilingual people with trust funds. All I can do is weep for not being born in that special class. Or not.