A few years back I had the privilege of travelling to Honduras for a business trip.  I have travelled to many places in my life; most of them developed European countries.  I knew that Honduras was a poor country, but what I expected to see paled in comparison to what I actually witnessed.  The conditions of human life in this country were terrible.  There was an extreme division of classes (upper and lower).  The rich, mostly government employees and drug cartels, lived in guarded compounds with pools and beautiful houses, and the poor lived in huts with old billboards and corrugated tin for roofs. 

What amazed me though, was the prideful and hardworking nature of the Honduran people.  Clean drinking water was scarce and many houses had dirt floors, yet those that inhabited them were very clean and kempt in appearance.  I rarely saw beggars.  Most people were busy working their trades to selling goods by the roadside.  There was a story that I read in Shann Ray’s book, American Masculine, where a boy is pulled between two world perspectives.  His mother was able to find the good in the world and his father saw the world as a dark place, “and people darker still”.  This seemed to cause a duality of perception in the boy…a struggle to see the light in the dark.  

In Honduras, I didn't see sadness, as I would have expected.  Rather, I saw a people who thrived in the love of God and their families. This trip was a wake-up call to my consciousness.  My first-world problems now seem trivial in comparison to those of the average Honduran.