The true tragedy

This Tuesday we heard the testimony of a woman who had breast cancer and how she suffered during this process and how she lost her car, friend, boyfriend and many other things. While many people were playing Pokémon GO and texting, I was thinking. What would have happened if she had breast cancer in Africa or in any third world country? Would she have had the same treatment as in the USA? I don’t think so… Believe it or not, misery not only exists in Africa; it is also present in this side of the world.

I think she was lucky to be in America. She had a good treatment to fight cancer or at least she had an opportunity to treat it. Most of the people that live in third world countries don’t have the opportunity to treat their cancer. We are privileged to live in a country where you can go to a clinic simply because you have a fever. In other countries, people die of a simple fever. I write because I’ve seen it. Every year I work with a medical team that offers free clinics and medicines in Honduras. In most third world countries, people have to walk miles to get to the nearest clinic or hospital, and when they get there, they don’t receive their medicine because the clinic doesn’t have it. I wonder if God loves these people. Why would a loving God let children die this way? This is a tragedy without any sense of comedy.

Recently, I have heard in many debates and speeches the phrase “how to make America great again”. If you are reading this, you need to know that America is already great. It always was and will always be. Last week we read Gospel as a tragedy and I didn’t realize that the book’s title is ‘Telling the Truth’. Well, truth is that the majority of the people who live in a first world country don’t get to see what true tragedy is because while America is going up, the rest of the world is burning down. I hope that as an American you feel blessed and happy to live in a country where you can live instead of survive.