Years ago when we were in a position to do so we gave regular contributions to an international aid organization and through that helped support a family in South America. One Christmas when we had more money that usual due to settlement of a contract, we were able to send some extra money. About three months later the case worker sent us some photographs. The family had bought some bags of cement, tin sheets and cinder blocks. The covered their roof because it had always been leaking in the rain; they put a cement floor in their kitchen area--it had been dirt floor until then, and the cinder blocks were used, I think, to make some raised sleeping platforms so they didn't have to be on the floor. The father worked--he is a carpenter, and he and his wife had three children. The son for whom we provided x dollars per month received his first pair of shoes because of the aid organization, his first trip to the dentist and his first school supplies. That put some stuff in perspective for me. I think back to those pictures and realize that just because I miss a meal doesn't mean I'm starving, and just because I need a patch on my jeans doesn't mean I am destitute. Sometimes we take the luxuries we have for granted. The folks in South America were in need of necessities. Big difference there. Now, if I have no milk or sugar for the tea I have it without. If there's no tea, water is fine. Sometimes we just don't know.