Sometimes we don’t understand things until we experience them ourselves. What would it be like to be invaded or physically removed from your home?

I feel as if I have taken the right of privacy and the freedom. Last week, my home was invaded by the Google Fiber installation crew.

However non-violent this occurrence was, it was still disturbing and it simply made me consider about how lucky we are here in the United States because our country is safe from rebels and militant groups.

When two men suddenly appeared at my door, unannounced and uninvited, armed and ready to tear into my closet and drill holes in my walls, I felt completely powerless to stop them. Even though they weren’t there to hurt me, I was still rudely interrupted from my writing and quite disturbed that I wasn’t warned.

My landlord failed to notify me that they were coming and I was trying to finish my studying and then go to school.  I was inconvenienced for only a few hours but I was considerably upset – mostly because there was nothing I could do to stop it. Here were these guys, digging through my closet, drilling holes and dragging in cords and I threw a fit because I was trying to study.

I felt aggravated and annoyed but shortly after the ordeal was over, I started to think about what a small inconvenience it actually was in comparison to what some encounter in the world today. I thought about all the refugees, meaning people who have no homes, and I couldn’t help but think to myself how selfish and spoiled I was to know that millions of people in the world we live in don’t have the same rights and protection that I do.

So many people are ripped from their homes due to war. Many of these people don’t have protection from corrupt governments or militant groups or the governments that are willing do not have the adequate resources.

This is simply a perception of how thankful I am to be an American.We may have problems in this country but in the end, being ripped from our homes and shuffled away from them by gunpoint into the back of a flatbed truck to a refugee camp isn’t likely.

We are fortunate to have this protection and this security. I am thankful for all those who have served and are serving in all the divisions of the U.S. Armed Forces. I am thankful for our constitution and of our rights.