Where Best To Be Poor

Things aren’t so bad in the U.S.—relatively speaking. Here in the Philippines, many of our neighbors … including the family right next door … do NOT have electricity or even a hand-pump well. It’s not UNcommon. They have to walk some distance to a “community” well, pump their water by hand, and then carry it back to their house. As I sit here, these neighbors walk by carrying pails—right outside my window—several times every day. And they don’t complain. How many folks in the U.S. have to do that? How many Americans have no way to cook their meals except over an open wood fire?— An American living in the Philippines