Do you start each day with a grateful heart? How many things do we take for granted every day? Probably more than you think.

If you read this right now, you have the gift of reading – a gift that about 800 million people in this world do not have. You also have access to the internet – only about a third of the world’s population has such access to such technology.

Let’s take a look at six things we might forget to be grateful for.

  1. Water
    A basic element, easily accessible and necessary for life for most people, water is not so easy to access for some. Consider these statistics on water.org:
  • 780 million people do not have access to an improved source of water, about one in nine people.
  • If you even take a five-minute shower in the morning, use more water than an ordinary person living in a slum in developing countries for a whole day.
  • Tragically, lack of access to water kills many people – including women and children.
  1. Electricity
    When the sun begins to set, it is an automatic reaction to simply turn on a light. However, this is not the case for about 1.3 billion people in the world without access to electricity.
  2. Food
    The world produces a lot of food, especially in developed countries such as the USA. This is evident in the $ 5 double cheeseburger you can buy at your local fast food restaurant. Despite this abundance, about one in eight people on the planet goes to bed hungry every night.
  3. Education
    Nothing is more important for both social and individual progress than education. Citizens who can read, think critically and learn special skills (such as trades) have better economic opportunities, healthier children, contribute more to society and have better overall health.
  4. A shelter
    If you read this in the comfort of your own home, you have shelter. For that, be grateful. Seriously, there are many people – including in the US, who do not have a roof over their head or do not have the opportunity to sleep in a bed at night.
  5. Freedom
    The freedom of the individual should be a fundamental human right, but it is not in many parts of the world. Women, in particular, find it even more difficult than men in many of these places because of the “inferior status” they were labeled at birth… simply because of their gender. Many women around the world experience forced marriage, abuse, and even reproductive warrants that limit the number of children they can have.

Don’t forget – be grateful!

6 essential things for which we lack to be grateful