For everyone sweltering in the heat . . .

[cboy4]

and it's about 110 where I live for more than a week,

I just try to keep in mind what it's like in Iraq and Lebanon these days where people don't have:

***Electricity to run cooling systems/fans, and refrigerators.

***Running water (for water), and of course toilets and showers and sinks

***Fully functioning hospitals to treat the children and others.

Oh yea, not to mention the rocket fire. :(

I'll take this scorching heat any day.

I think we're pretty fortunate. no?

[Kagemusha]

1. I pity the people in Harlem and CA where blackouts have been.

Little taste of Lebanon and Iraq for the people there.

[cboy4]

4. Yes, absolutely. And BTW, in no way do I wish to diminish the amount of

suffering the poor and homeless in this country endure, not only when it's very hot, but when it's also bitterly cold.

[panader0]

2. I'm a bricklayer. 104 today in Sierra Vista AZ, Almost killed me.

But you are right. I thought several times today, after seeing the front page photos on USA Today of bleeding civilians in Lebanon, and I thought how fortunate I was. The heat I blamed on bush, for his energy policies, not signing Kyoto accords, Cheney and his secret energy deals. The whole world is experiencing record heat and there's NO GLOBAL WARMING???

[Kagemusha]

6. There's probably part of it that's cooler but, not the uh, point.

It can still be hotter overall regardless.

Just saying, the northern hemisphere isn't the whole world either.

[cspanlovr]

3. Yep, gotta count your blessings! Millions of people would love

to have my problems! (must..keep..saying..this..) ;)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. Yes

As I walked down the peaceful streets of the little town where I work, I mused that the worst thing that ever happens here is a bad car wreck, or a sad case of domestic violence. Citizens can sit under the trees on the courthouse square and watch the traffic go by without fear of someone shooting them dead. Folks can shop at the grocery store without worrying that there is a bomb planted in a car in the parking lot, and that it will go off just as they are leaving with a bagful of groceries. I can walk a block to my local pharmacy, past the beautiful garden he's planted around the edge of his parking lot, and know that there's enough water for his plants and for me, too. I just hope others here also realize how lucky they are.

[progressivebydesign]

7. I had one of those "fortunate to be here" days..

Tho the temps here in the Puget Sound have been brutal for us (in the upper 90s in a place not designed nor prepared for heat), today I drove out to the Hood Canal area. I found a little bistro that serves crepes, had one at a sidewalk table, then found a waterside park in which to stretch out and read... then dip my toes in the water. Though I have been grousing about the heat, I realized how very lucky I am to be able to do those things. I'm often very grateful for everything I have, tho it's not much by some people's standards here in the US. I am grateful everyday that by a miracle of chance and my ancestors gypsy spirits, to be born here in the US.