If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, aroof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...you are among the top 8% of the wolrd's wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the lonliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 milllion people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare, even in the US.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful...you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder...you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

-- I believe in Him (Jesus is King@Kingdom.come), March 26, 2001

Answers

"If you can read this message ... someone was thinking of you..."

Who? Me? How could that be? I am a faceless, anonymous lurker. I'm sure I believe could not correctly state two facts about me without guessing.

And exactly why am I supposed to feel better because a million people will die this week, 500 million people are starving and 2 billion can't read? That is perverse.

I'm sorry to be cross, but I am thankful. Damn thankful. I know when I'm well off without having to drag out a bunch of poor, pathetic wretches and parade them around just so I can feel warm and fuzzy and nice and weepy and smug.

This thing may be well-intentioned, but it is cheap sentimentality pretending to be something noble. It's just a cheap shot of victory gin for the Up With People crowd.

-- Miserable SOB (misery@misery.com), March 26, 2001.

No, its both.

-- oYo (@@...), March 26, 2001.

I'd say all 3 oYo. Blinders are neat. Makes life simpler and wish I could get mine back.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), March 26, 2001.