Philosophizing

I read a newspaper article recently about a teenage girl in Haiti who had just had a series of surgeries to remove a 16-pound growth from her face. There was a picture of her before the surgery, and her face was grotesquely distorted. Her throat and nasal passages were partially blocked by the growth. In order to eat she had to lay her head down on the table and shove mashed plantains down her throat. I thought, "I really don't have it so bad--I should stop feeling sorry for myself." I may not be able to eat everything I want, but I can eat in a normal manner and there's nothing wrong with my appearance.

(The girl was fortunate that a humanitarian group found out about her and flew her to Miami for the operations. Doctors in Haiti, a poor country, did not have the facilities to treat her.)