How much does this plump purple grape mean to you? In fact, how much do you appreciate a farmer suffering under the boiling sun, watering the crops, bending over for hours; just to grow these fruits and vegetables for you to consume? Do you ever even think of that farmer? What about the men and women milking the cows to collect the calcium-rich milk for your bones to grow? You don’t realize, do you? Only a few appreciate the little things in life, the unnoticeable. Now I want you to close your eyes and take a couple of seconds to imagine what can happen to you in a world without water. Can you even see that world? You’re presence in this classroom right now is due to the existence of water. You buy water bottles from school to only take a sip and leave the rest to throw, as though it was nothing, no BIG deal. The fruits, the vegetables, the FOOD you eat are only available due to the presence of water, its ability to give life. It may seem small, one vegetable, one fruit but the effort and time taken to produce such gifts are unimaginable. Take a look in the mirror. Why isn’t your face covered in the misfortunes of life, the sweat, the weight  and the ‘dirt’ of those who work 16-hour shifts in the blazing sun. How are you so lucky? Is this all invisible to you, or do you chose to ignore it?

You are unaware of the blessings and fortunes of your life, and this is an issue that not only affects you but those around you, your family, your community. You will never truly appreciate the value of your blessings until you put yourself in the shoes of the less fortunate. That poor child that treks tens of kilometers just to access a litre of water. His friend, who has no access to elementary education, but still helps the elderly and plays with an old plastic plate as though it is a frisbee. One who laughs and enjoys the little he’s got but constantly makes the most of it, appreciating the little things and being content. Now look at the rich and financially stable men and women of today. Your money is being spent on therapists and anti-depressants. Your knives are being used to cut yourselves, your ropes are being used to hang yourselves. Why? Why is it so difficult for more fortunate and wealthy people to appreciate their lives and what they’ve been granted as gifts from god and each other? This lack of gratitude has to be taken care of.

Look around people, open your minds; stop asking for more when you’ve been given enough, stop comparing yourselves to others, stop being ignorant to your fortunes when others appreciate a bite of rice a day and start looking at what you already have, and how blessed and fortunate you are. Appreciate to feel appreciated. It is said that a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated, as people and as humans.. According to Frederick Keonig, “We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting what we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have”. Ladies and gentlemen, look at the bright side, many people go through tough times however there is always light at the end of the tunnel, the tunnel might be long yet the outcome is worth the while spent waiting.

As stated by “The Hunger project”: every 10 seconds, a child dies from hunger-related diseases. And according to “The Borgen Project”, 737 billion dollars per year is the amount the Congress spends on Defense. However, approximately 30 billion dollars per year is the amount needed to eradicate world hunger. If we continue to act the way we do, we continue to abuse our possessions and our gifts, our world will only deteriorate, our humanity will be nothing more than a mythical concept. Those numbers will only increase, but we can change that, one step at a time. 

Let me start by asking you, What are you doing to help? or better yet, what can you do to help? The first step, be grateful and be humble, appreciate your blessings or you will never truly treat the cause. Start donating money, think twice before buying a water bottle, work hard when it comes to week without walls and your CAS projects, join clubs and strive to aid the world, appreciate what you have and give more than what you get. But we need to change, we need to be thankful and we need to give back. So start by appreciating the courage it takes to speak in public.