A Thing Called "Mine"

I've been thinking about it for a long time, and it makes me think everytime I hear it. Everytime someone says, "mine," it makes the insides of me ooze with a certain bag of feelings. I can't describe in one word exactly what those feelings are; but they include sadness, sorryness, and some other feelings, but most importantly, introspectiveness.

Have you ever stopped to think about what "mine" means? The word is common in our North American society, but probably less so in societies that are more about family and community. The word is probably even less heard-of in countries where people often wonder where their next meal is coming from. Yet here we are, demarking things as "mine, mine, mine." It's very heartwarming, however, when I hear someone tell someone else that its "theirs."

Have you ever had that heartwarming feeling? Imagine someone poor, someone who has lived in poverty his entire life... he doesn't know what it's like to own something, for something to be "mine." But now, when presented with something that is "mine," finally, he can't even believe the reality that he is now experiencing. It would bring him to tears just to be able to call something, "mine."

"Mine," brings up a lot of other thoughts, too. Like, is something reall,y "mine."? Autocratic countries aside, even in democratic and private-ownership-allowed countries, "mine," is sometimes not. What about if you have your own house? What about the taxes that you must pay? If you don't pay those, it isn't "mine" anymore. Even your own time is not yours - don't you have to go out and do something for someone else just to be able to survive?