If you wore [sic] born and grew up in the U.S., Canada, Australia or any other country considered “developed,” there are probably a lot of things you take for granted on a daily basis. Things like clean drinking water, big grocery stores, and even mirrors. But for people who grew up in developing countries and then left, many aspects of life in the developed world might come as a shock.

So writes May Wilkerson in “35 people who moved from the developing world to richer countries share what shocked them the most,” somecards.com, February 13.

All 35 items are worth reading. They remind me of things that most of us take for granted, but that make life so easy. You’ll notice how few of the 35 items are about cell phones and other very modern conveniences and how many are about simple things like toilet paper, well-stocked supermarkets, and, especially, lack of crime and increased personal safety.

I’ve always taken personal safety for granted, except for the months following two episodes: (1) December 1978 when someone robbing my house in Rochester, NY jumped out of a second story window of my house but just before doing so yelled, “I’m gonna kill you.” (2) November 1979, when my apartment in Oakland, CA was burglarized and the burglars might have been there when I got home. (I didn’t wait around to find out.)

Also interesting is the appreciation of people of various colors.

HT2 Jonathan Meer.