Some things really make you think...

On two separate occasions this week I've been made to stop and realise...just how lucky I really am. Yes I know I bitch and complain the odd time about petty things like everyone does, but I've really noticed this week that the things I might complain about are really pretty insignificant on the grand scheme of things. This first came to my attention on Tuesday night while watching TV and I came across a documentary called 'Poor Kids.' For those of you who didn't see it, I HIGHLY recommend you catch up on BBC iplayer. The documentary was the story of how millions of children in the UK are living in poverty and deprived families. The stories of the children featured in the documentary were told from the children's point of view. No-one had told them what to say, they were just showing the cameras and telling them what life was like for them growing up in poverty in the UK.

To see the condition of the flats featured on the programme gave me goosebumps. Broken beds, extreme dampness to walls, floors and bedding, in general very unhygienic conditions that I wouldn't even want a rodent to live in never mind a human being. And also to hear the children speak so honestly and frankly to the cameras, they didn't ask for much, simply because they knew their family couldn't afford it. One of the boys in the film, got his first proper haircut at a barbers for his 12th Birthday so the children at school couldn't bully him anymore about his 'floppy hair.' The entire documentary was heartbreaking and really made me think, that in this day and age HOW can so many people in one of the world's wealthiest countries be living in such horrid conditions?? It just doesn't add up to me. 

The second wake up call of the week came just yesterday when I started to notice a lot of people retweeting on Twitter about a little girl called Alice. After clicking on the link which led me to her blog, I discovered that Alice Pyne was a 15 year old girl who had terminal cancer and had created a 'Bucket List' on her blog which combined a list of things that she would like to achieve/do before she feels the cancer will ultimately take over. Alice's blog broke my heart to read it. Again, I stopped and couldn't help but admire her positivity and general outlook on life. While I may moan about silly things, they are completely insignificant in comparison to what Alice is going through. I really really hope that Alice gets to do everything on her list that she wants to do and a whole lot more with it, she deserves the best. I would definitely recommend reading Alice's blog and following her to see if there is anything you can do to help, she really is an inspiration.