In my Feminist Literature class last semester, we talked and read about why calling certain countries "third world country" is kinda stupid and patronizing. The connotation of the "third world" makes it seem like certain countries are lesser than the US or England. So, basically, white people over people of color in their respective countries.

Specifically, an old white woman in this class asked one of the Indian girls if she felt guilty after leaving India to come back to New York. Her reply was yes. And I was immediately flabbergasted, as my experience in India is the way they live is the way they live.

I visit my grandparents in their tiny flat in New Delhi about every other year. It doesn't have a heater, the bathroom is tiny and once had a mouse running around in it. There are mosquitos buzzing around everywhere in the summer. The mattress is thin and cardboard like. We may not be used to it in America, but they are used to it in India.

Poor children take showers in natural pools of water in front of the entire world. Nobody bats an eye. Just because we don't understand it, doesn't mean it's wrong. Feeling bad for them is looking down on them. It's wrong to do. We should be looking towards these countries not with concern, but with curiosity. We shouldn't be pushing our ideals onto others who don't understand us. It's like taking a lion from the wild and sticking it into a cage. The environment they grew up in, however poor the conditions from our point of view, is what they are used to and putting them somewhere completely different is just ineffective.

So, no. I do not feel guilty about my life in New York. Just as I'd hate living in New Delhi with an uncomfortable mattress, my grandparents don't want to be here on a mattress they'd just sink straight into.