Accidental Gratitude

Last week my family went of a Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Freedom. It was an awesome experience.

That ship has a great staff, professional and personal. It was everything one could hope for and more. It was a wonderful experience. I'll talk more of that later.

What I do want to talk about I didn't anticipate on this trip. It wasn't from the ship nor from our excursion, the good hope estate. It was between the two.

En route to our destination, we traveled past a run down part of Falmouth.

Now from the ship, we could see some slums and decayed, even destroyed buildings. The route out bus took didn't travel close to them. Instead, it went through another, less run down part of town.

Even Still, my heart grieved. What's more, my photos don't paint the story my eyes encountered neither.

On our route, we passed shanties consisting of tarp and aluminum. There were also lines of shacks made from plywood and bamboo. It brought into focus how fortunate my family was. It kicked my gratitude into high gear. My eyes reopened to see the poverty overwhelming many countries.

But in it all, I think the most remarkable thing I saw was a mural. 5 men using 5 computers. I realized I take for granted my car, house, work. But computers I also take for granted, in other countries, they become murals. Isn't that remarkable?