:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/young-woman-sitting-in-drivers-seat-of-a-black-car--driving--860816602-5b1ce119fa6bcc003680b218.jpg)
If you’ve never traveled outside of the United States, it’s easy to take the country's conveniences for granted. However, once you visit a foreign country, your perspective broadens, and you realize all of the things you have to be grateful for. I try to leave the country at least once every two years because it provides me with a fresh perspective on my life at home.
There are so many things that I, and we, as Americans in general, enjoy on a daily basis without ever giving much thought. If you don't believe me, read ahead for 28 things, some comical and others serious, that Americans take for granted—but shouldn’t.
- Running water
- Hot running water
- Electricity
- Grocery stores stocked with food
- Corner stores that are open 24/7
- Stores that are open on Sundays
- Toilet paper and clean bathrooms
- Sidewalks and functioning paved roads
- Cars, public transportation, and Uber
- The college experience
- Drugstores
- Feminine hygiene products
- The freedom of choice. Choices are everywhere large and small, from diverse restaurants to who we elect for President.
- Red Solo cups
- Three meals a day
- A shower that works
- A roof (that doesn’t leak) over your head
- A bed (not a clay or soil floor) to sleep on
- A cell phone
- A room or space to call your own
- A job
- A backyard that isn’t full of street or safari animals
- Hospitals to go to in an emergency
- Garbage trucks
- Televised sporting events
- Public schools
- Starbucks
- The military, police, and firefighters
Remember the wise words of Ziad K. Abdelnour: “Learn to appreciate what you have before time makes you appreciate what you had.”