The following article is one of a series entitled "Living on the Edge," published in the Denver Post in mid-December, 2004.

"American Dreaming"

I highly recommend reading the story above, as well as the rest of the series.

We are surrounded by so much paper and noise. Often, it is simply too easy for us to become enmeshed in our own daily obstacles. It seems difficult — perhaps even nonsensical — to spend much time considering the struggles of others whose prospects may be far worse than ours even on the best of their days. But I believe there is tremendous value in viewing the lives of those whom fate has not smiled so kindly upon. Do this, and hopefully we may better realize the blessings and opportunities already present in our own.

After reading the article above, I am forced to pause, consider, and cry. And that is good.

I pause because the story — the recent life of a refugee named Abdeta Shuke — is stark and shadowed. I consider because the inherent obstacles he faces will almost certainly prevent his attaining the comforts and opportunities he deserves, no matter the work or care he invests. I cry because his story is so vastly different than mine, in almost every single way one could imagine.

"It is better than in Africa," Shuke says. "I am not thinking that somebody will put me in jail, that somebody will kill me. This is peace."

I, and many others, are so very, very fortunate to live how we do today.