I woke this morning thinking about an 80 year old woman in the Congo named Anna Mburano. Her story and that of 200 other women who were brutally gang raped for four days by 200 men who swarmed their small village was on the front page of the New York Times yesterday.  This photo of Anna Mburano and her 2 year old grandson Joel, who was present for the attack on his grandmother, doesn’t begin to tell the story of what it must have been like for these women and their families as they endured unimaginable brutality with little hope of rescue. I wish I had 100 brilliant ideas about what I/we should be doing to help Anna and the women of Congo who have been enduring this “rape epidemic” (reported here) for half a decade, but I have none. This violence, which is beyond the understanding or researchers and the control of more than 17,000 UN Peacekeepers that have been deployed to the region, is certainly beyond my sphere of influence. And yet, I find myself compelled to share their story…and to reflect on how easy it is to take for granted things like the rule of law and security. Despite my desire to appreciate my life, I cannot escape the extent to which I can be ungrateful by focusing on “wants” and overlooking the rich abundance of “needs” that are fulfilled in my life every single day…