Freedom Writers.

Spent Thursday night watching The Freedom Writers on HBO; it was well worth the 2 hour investment. (As a sidenote, isn't it sad that we've become so calculative about everything? A constant weighing of benefits vs. consequences from dimes to seconds, about everything and anything. It scares me. Whatever happened to just doing things 'for the fun of it'? Now that's a term you don't hear very often these days. But that's an angsty rant for another time.)

The first feeling I felt was that of immense, immense gratitude. God knows what those kids in the movie go through on a day-to-day basis. I can't think of any way to describe how destitute and bereft those youth are, it's shocking. But I think this dialogue nicely sums it up:

Miss G: Who here knows what the Holocaust is?
[no hands are raised, except one]
Miss G: Who here has ever been shot at?
[all hands are raised, except one]

So yeah. Go figure.

We're all fighting our own wars, some - much, much - worse than others. And in comparison to the wars waged against these kids everyday, the average Singaporean teen's looks like peanuts.

If all of us would only just appreciate what we have and how incredibly blessed we are, this world would be a much happier place. 'Nuff said.