I welcome the long weekend that comes with Independence Day at the beginning of each July. This year, I relished a slow day with my family and experienced the joys of a summer cookout. Beyond decorations and outfit choices, nothing in my celebration was particularly patriotic, and I gave only a small amount of time throughout the day to reflect on our country and my gratitude for it.

Since Independence Day, however, I have given more thought to gratitude for my life in America, thanks to a popular theology book from an evangelical Christian perspective I recently read. It did not have much to do with patriotism or gratitude for America, but the book referenced several studies and statistics on the topic of wealth that caused me to ponder the privilege of living in this country.

While estimates and statistics differ slightly, researching the global average salary puts this privilege into perspective. This calculator from the charity Giving What We Can compares yearly household income to that of the rest of the world, while this calculator from Pew Research Center shows what global class one is a part of based on salary. One financial website estimates that those who earn $50,000 a year are in the top 1% of the world’s population when it comes to yearly income. Other research estimates that the average global personal income is less than $10,000 a year, and the average global household income is around $12,000 a year. Over half of the world’s population lives on less than $10 a day.

If you’re reading this, you have internet access, and you probably live in a place with electricity and running water, which means you possess three things that many people don’t. In 2023, an estimated 63% of the world used the internet, meaning that 37% did not. Around 40% of the world population lacks or has poor plumbing in their homes, and around 1 in 4 people don’t have access to safely managed drinking water, 2022 statistics show. While over 90% of the world has access to electricity, there are still around 696 million people who don’t, research shows.

There are, of course, many poor people in America. But, considering our world in broad categories, America and the West are generally very well-off compared to the global South and Eastern countries.

My grandmother, an American by birth who spent 20 years as an overseas missionary, told me many times when I was a child that I was wealthy because I live in America. I never quite understood what she meant, nor appreciated it appropriately. As an adult, I see the worth of her global perspective and the gratitude it brings. When we step back from fixating on the first-world struggles of our modern lives, we can see that, from a global perspective, we are rich.

My husband and I are currently buying our first house. Amid this process, I feel the disparity between what we can afford and what many other homebuyers in our area can afford. They can be picky about the kitchen style or garage size they would like, while we can’t. It’s easy to be envious of those richer than ourselves. Too often, this is what I dwell on in my thoughts about buying a house, instead of the fact that simply being able to buy a house in America is a sign of wealth, an opportunity of which many in our world would never dream.

What is the fruit of stepping back for a moment to view our lives from a global perspective? Literally speaking, such a shift in perspective accomplishes little. It does not change the house one can afford or the amount of money one can allocate toward monthly groceries.

But it does change something. It can change one’s attitude from one of selfishness and taking things for granted to one of humble thankfulness.

G. K. Chesterton once said that “the chief idea of my life” is “the idea of taking things with gratitude, and not taking things for granted.” Elsewhere he called thanks “the highest form of thought.”

Many bemoan the privilege that many Americans experience; some completely ignore their privilege. A better approach, in my mind, is to recognize the privilege and blessings that we have as Westerners in the modern world, and to humbly thank God for them and for the prosperous country in which we live. Recognizing our wealth, we should seek to live in a way that is hospitable and generous to others, just as God, the divine Giver, has been generous to us.

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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

Image Credit: Freerange Stock