Are you blessed?

This morning I heard someone on the radio describe how he enjoyed taking his kids to areas of poverty to remind them how "blessed" they are.  Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth.  Unfortunately, I have heard scenarios like this many a time - i.e."finish your food, think of the starving children in Africa." Let me break down why I think this is offensive.
First of all by stating you are blessed in comparison to others is basically stating that those other people are NOT blessed.  Imagine how big your ego must be to think that God (or whatever higher power your believe in) blessed you and not them.  Furthermore, why do you need to compare yourself to others in order to feel gratitude for what you have?
Frankly, no one has the right or insight to determine who is fortunate/blessed and who isn't.  Some of the happiest people I have met would have been considered "disadvantaged' under these definitions.  Conversely, we can all think of celebrities with the utmost fame and fortune who ended up taking their own lives. So are fame, beauty and wealth really blessings? Are poverty, death and disability really misfortunes? Is a child really a blessing? (that will be a whole other post)
Life is transient and the more material "blessings" we have the more we are likely to be bound in our physical identity and the harder it will be for us to disassociate form our ego.  Those living lives with financial, physical or emotional struggles, may have been granted wisdom because of these hurdles- or then again - maybe not.  Regardless it is not in our place to judge.  We need to focus on our own life journey.  So the next time you pass a homeless or disabled person on the street, feel free to give them a helping hand but do not use them to give yourself an ego boost.  Blessings come in different forms and we may never understand the true lessons we are meant to learn until it is too late.