Warm and spoiled

I am feeling a bit ashamed of myself.

You see, two evenings ago, I arrived home from work to find that my apartment had no heat - just as a snowstorm was on its way along with sub-freezing temperatures. I called the emergency maintenance number, and someone arrived within 15 minutes to take a look. He could not diagnose the problem immediately,so he loaned me a space heater, with a promise that he and his supervisor (allegedly an HVAC specialist) would be back the next day and get it working - which they did.

But, for that one night, I was stressed. Although that space heater warmed my bedroom far above the 68 degrees where I usually keep my thermostat during the winter, I felt inconvenienced and irritated.

And for that I am ashamed.

Because it occurs to me that there are hundreds of thousands of homeless men, women, and children living on the cold streets of America right now who would love to find themselves in my unfortunate predicament. But they don't have that choice. Nobody is going to loan them a space heater - or an apartment to put it in.

And, for that, I'm not the only one who should be feeling very ashamed.