Now I know that not everyone has a white picket fence; mine is wrought iron. Some are high-planked fences for the crazy German Shepherd in the yard and others are low and are meant for decoration. Some people don't even have fences. But I digress, for the fence itself isn't the point. The white picket fence is the symbol of the fortunate lives that we live and the point is that the world doesn't stop at your fence. More importantly, there are people out there in the world that would give anything for the white-picket-fence life you have.

Too often, we get lost in our sheltered and close-minded lives. We are concerned only with what happens within earshot of us. We get caught up with stupid rumors about who slept with who, who said this about that person and who posted that picture on Instagram. I'm not sure if you know this, but there are 7 billion people on this planet and most of them would be ecstatic if their biggest problem in life was someone talking smack behind their back at a party. We spend so much time talking about other people when we should be caring about other people. 

You think you got problems? There are people in the world that have to walk barefoot for miles just to get clean water. There are people that walk to work every day in a city where the ground doesn't stop shaking from bombs going off. There are people in the world that wake up and instead of fearing the long day of classes ahead of them; they fear that someone is going to break into their home and cut their family to pieces with a machete because they're from the wrong tribe or have the wrong last name. Let that sink in and remember it next time you think your life is over after you take a nosedive on an exam. 

I know it sounds like I'm trying to take a position of moral high ground above you guys, but I'm guilty of the same tunnel vision that comes with being born under fortunate circumstances. It's not our fault, but remaining indifferent to the rest of the world's problems and taking our lives for granted is our fault. I'm not saying we should all drop everything and join the Peace Corps. But are we really going to make a big deal out of a snide comment someone made when there are millions of people out there starving, getting shot at, hacked to bits and blown to pieces? Instead of worrying about things we can't change and really don't matter, why don't we focus on things we can change and really do matter?

Last week, Tahni Hresko wrote a piece about one of her friends, Emily Yanos, that's involved in bringing clean water to impoverished regions of the world with the Thirst Project. Emily is a student just like us, and she's making a real difference. She's proof that the big issues in the world are not outside our ability to change. When you're helping others, it's easy to forget about those meaningless issues that cloud our daily lives with hate and negativity. 

One person may not be able to end conflict in the Middle East, world hunger or the AIDS epidemic in Africa. But if we pick our heads up from our phones for a second and look around, we can appreciate how fortunate we are. When we realize how lucky we are to not have to worry about bullets whizzing by your head on the way to the store, maybe we can take a small step toward making sure someone else doesn't have to worry about that the next time. One person may not be able to change the world. What we can change is our attitude. When enough people change their attitude, they will change the world.