I think I'll let this quote from my friend ministering in India speak for itself.



so i was hanging out with Babai and we had a great conversation comparing our cultures. His mother greeted me with a cup of coffee as soon as i arrived, they catch on quick here ;). i drank my coffee and told babai that in my country (again, texas) that folks pay up to $5.00 for a cup of coffee. We then converted that to rupees and babai was shocked! I then said, that's nothing! Some people spent thousands of dollars on coffee a year, and that's just coffee.

this then lead to other things that americans spend thousands of dollars on. i told him my car cost 15,000 and he converted that and could not even believe it!!! He told me that i must be soooo rich. I smiled and said, "that's just it babai, my car is probably one of the cheapest cars you can buy in america" then i told him about SUV's and how much they cost, and then BMW's and other cars that really people get as a sign of status. he couldn't believe it.

he said, " blossom, you move here and you will be most richest person in all INDIA" I smiled on the outside but was crying on the inside. So sweet. So...

i kept going. i told him about ridiculous things we buy and spend money on, like dog food and dog freakin clothes. like manicures and pedicures and entertainment and food. then i told him about julia roberts and how much money she makes for doing one film, maybe not even working for a whole year, and she gets like 30 million dollars. I told him imagine what 30 million dollars could do for the people of india. I don't know, i cried when i got back to my flat. I thought of how when i was sick that it would have taken SO LITTLE to make me feel better, to make me feel loved, to heal me, to save my life at that moment. Then i thought of how little it would take for the rest of us in the world to give that could do all those things for the people here and other places where peoples' basic needs are not being met. it's like chris seay says, consumerism is our problem! thinking we never have enough while people here have absolutely nothing and are dying. DISGUSTING! I'm sick thinking about it because i know I live that way. I'm guilty.