I have just recently returned from another trip to Central America, or more specifically El Salvador.  It was an amazing trip on several levels.  The people there are so happy and friendly.  They are so unattached to their belongings and so willing to give, even though they have very little.  One of the first things that I noticed as an American is that there are guards or military of some sort on every street corner, in every mall, in every parking lot, in every neighborhood, in every grocery store etc. and they all have a firearm of some sort.  They are equipped with anything from a handgun, to a shotgun, to a fully automatic weapon.  This is normal in many countries.  Also houses look more like cages from the outside than living spaces.  Almost every house has high brick fences, bars on the windows, and giant sliding iron doors for garages.  Only in the poorest of housing structures are the front doors and yards even visible.  This sounds like a prison more than a city, at least by our standards right?  So why are the people there so happy when living in such a seemingly chaotic world?  Let?s turn this back on ourselves for a minute? maybe we don?t have armed soldiers watching our every move, or iron gates with barbed wire surrounding nearly every structure where people go, but what prisons do we find ourselves in daily?  America consumes more than 40% more than any other developed country.  Personal debt is extremely high, and I am not referring to small debts, I am talking about significant debt.  Credit cards rule many of our lives, and that is no exaggeration.  We are constantly concerned solely with our own person gain.  We consume countless amounts of anti-depressants in many various forms, we abuse ourselves and each other, and too many of us feel that our lives have little or no meaning.  I am not saying that these things don?t happen in other countries, because they obviously do.  I am focusing on the differences in problems that primarily consume and imprison us.  It is odd to most Americans that people with little or nothing can be so happy, but isn?t it even more of an oddity that we have so much and are so unfulfilled?  Personally, I am happier having less materials and focusing more on what actually matters to me: friends and family.  We really do live in an amazing country, a country where we do not have to choose which evil is easier to live with: no physical security or a mental penitentiary.  We can have the best of both worlds, but we have to decide to focus on the right things.  You see, to the people living in less fortunate material circumstances the decision is easy.  So why are we so confused?  Why are we so driven to fill our lives with things that cannot and will not bring lasting fulfillment?  Maybe we can?t change our pasts, but we can change our futures.