An Addendum (see post below)

There was something I forgot I wanted to add. My cousin went to India last month with a service group. While there, she witnessed the most extreme poverty, worse than anything here in America. She visited the untouchables of India in leprousy colonies. These were people who had been kicked out of society for a disease they had no control over, a disease that had disfigured many of them, that had caused many to lose fingers, toes, even whole hands and feet, a disease that has no cure. They had all the misfortune and misery the world could give them, and yet they didn't complain about how the government wasn't taking care of them. My cousin only talked about what a happy and grateful people they were. In her own words, "I wll miss the happiness of people here in India and the sounds of India. People here are so different in ways than in the US. People in the US who are poor, or who don't have as much, I mean I am sure there are some that are still happy, but there are also some that aren't as happy because they see others and their wealth. But here, they don't have the materialistic things to see, or the wealth of their fellow neighbors, they just have their hearts. People here in India are so happy and grateful for what they do have."