Chicken Fried

One of my favorite songs is Chicken Fried by the Zac Brown Band. Here are the opening lyrics:

You know I like my chicken fried.

Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up

The song is a celebration of life in America. Later in the song he thanks God for his life and for the stars and stripes. Which is good. But as I listen to the chorus:

You know I like my chicken fried

Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up

I have become aware that most people in the world have no idea of what a life like this is like.  We can eat chicken any time we want to.  When I was in Mozambique, as a treat for the visiting Americans, the Methodists bought a cows head [just the head] from the butcher and picked the little slivers of meat off of it to put into a soup.  They don't get chicken whenever they want it.

And if you want a beer, you can probably get one, or two or three.  This little treat is out of reach for most people in the world.

A pair of jeans that fit just right... again, the ability that we have to buy stylish clothes is unheard of in most places around the world.  How many sets of clothes do you have hanging in your closet?  In many countries, people are wearing the only set of clothes that they have and it was shipped over from the USA and it is our old donated stuff.

Enough said.

I love the song.  I love the feeling of the song.  But may we also keep in mind that we live in the richest country in the history of the world.  We are so blessed.  Let us never take what we have for granted.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.