I never knew how much I took my life for granted before going back to my home country.

I don't remember what life was like before I came to America. But what I DO know is I shouldn't complain about what I gained here.

Philippines is NOT like United States. My friends there don't have the pleasure of owning even that piece of crap we call Gameboy Advance, or a decent house.

People are in poverty. The slums in America do not compare to what I saw in Manila. There's NO slums in America. Some of the people compalin about having a house with a roof and a tiled floor and a kitchen and rooms of their own.

I saw shacks. SHACKS. You'd think they didn't have those old things anymore but they DO. These houses, if you could call them houses, are made of a thin sheet of metal stacked on top of each other, and I didn't see one, I saw a HUNDRED.

Stack by stack I saw shacks, with people living on them. Hell, I saw a styrofoam box with a family sleeping there! I was almost brought to tears.

How can I be such a whiny-ass bitch who compains about not having an iPhone when these people are HAPPY with what they had.

Even I used to be in poverty. I saw our house in the Philippines.

Nothing like the house we have here in America. It was hot, stifling even, inside. It was half my house in America, and the water didn't work, and our shower had no roof.

But you know what, I don't remember having such hardships in this house; I loved my life before America, and I had flashes of memories where we once had only half a cup of rice and salt for a meal, and I was still happy.

Even when I visited, even through the hardships I see and face in Philippines, I was happy, I never felt so comfortable in my life.

My cousins were happy; even when my aunts and uncles didn't earn near as much money as even I earn for my allowance, they still find the money and time to help us have a good time.

Even when Philippines is in prepetual recession the people are so happy with what they have. Even when it's not a Flat-Screen tv and it's one of those crappy TVs even I don't have anymore, they're happy that at LEAST they have a TV.

My trip opened my eyes. We spend our money through material possessions that we DON'T NEED, but buy because it's the IT thing, when there are people who are struggling to find food and shelter not only in Philippines but even AMERICA, guys!

I'm gonna give some of my allowance to my cousins and aunts and uncles when my dad sends packages over there. I'm gonna try to give them a life that I shouldn't complaiin about.

A life that THEY deserve.

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Well, that was my rant about the Philippines, but there's another thing tho.

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