Do you feel guilty being born in America or being a naturalized citizen of the United States? It seems that there is a segment of society that feels guilty by just being an American.

I will admit, and I’ve said many times, that being born in America is the equivalent of winning life’s lottery. But I have never felt guilt for being born here.

You have to admit it’s a pretty cool country which is why the southern border is packed with those wanting to enter.

Why The Guilt?

Worldwide poverty has improved at a dramatic rate. Today, only 0.7 billion of the world’s 7.5 billion people live below the extreme poverty line.

That’s less than 10 per cent of the world’s population. Not only is this the lowest proportion of people in extreme poverty ever, it’s also the lowest total number in more than 200 years.

It’s the great economic success story of all time. (Source)

I guess at one time we might have felt some guilt for our good fortune not to have been born in a third world, poverty-stricken nation.

Yet there are some who still feel that even though the lot of the entire world is better, mostly due to the advancements pioneered in the US, they should still feel guilty that even the poorest US citizen is probably doing better than the poorest in other countries.

Mobile Banking In Africa

How are some of these countries doing?

There are 100 million active MFS (Mobile Financial Services) customers in Africa dealing in transactions worth $2.1 billion with their cell phones.

Telecom operators have more customers (Africa’s largest operator MTN has over170 million users), better distribution networks (Kenya’s Safaricom has over 130,000 mobile money agents), can easily spread products given mobile phone diffusion (Seventy-five percent continental penetration as of 2016), not to mention the ease and safety of use in contrast to the paper-heavy processes of banks. (Source)

Think where they will be in ten years, twenty years?

Some Final Thoughts

I can understand feeling compassion for those who are living in unfortunate circumstances through no fault of their own.

However, it’s not my fault either. And, something is being done about it.

Thanks to the freedoms that America offers in pursuit of the American dream many more people are lifted out of poverty by the rising American economic seas.

One way to keep this surge going is to kick the guilt to the curb and go out and be the best person you can be. What you do today, tomorrow, next week in your job and in your life can have far reaching positive effects across the globe.

The only guilt should be not contributing to the good of society. Comments below.