How Lucky You Are

Shermei, Shermei, 
You don't know how lucky you are. 
You've never lived in a flooded house,
your only shelter,
standing on a little stool to eat your meal.
You've never lived through a famine,when
a chicken in the black market would 
cost a month's salary. 
You've never encountered social turmoils, 
when bandits came to draft your brother in the morning, 
government came to draft your father and horses in the afternoon,
local hooligans came to extract protection money in the night. 
You've never gone through a war, 
escaping the advancing enemy on an empty stomach, 
leaving all your possessions behind. 
You've never seen real political chaos, 
Monarchy one day, republic the next, 
warlords overcome both the day after.
Grandmama, Grandmama, 
What are you talking about?
Are these the rite of passage you were thinking about?
You think I'm too naive if I didn't go through them?