To kick off the final presidential debate, both candidates mentioned the fact that Americans are upset.

I found this more than appropriate, as it seems that every day, more and more people have started complaining.

In light of widespread critique of recent events, including the economic crisis and the upcoming elections, I think it would be beneficial to take a step back and appreciate what it means to be American.

The problem I see almost every day is that most people can’t even begin to understand how well-off they are for living in this country.

I was in the third grade when I moved to the veritable hell-hole that is Lagos, Nigeria, and no amount of description I can give will ever do justice to that experience. Nigeria is a country choked with political corruption and stunted by the exploitation of big oil companies.

There were two military takeovers of the country while I was living there, and I will never forget being holed up in my house with automatic gunfire and homemade bombs going off blocks from us. Our school was protected by armed guards and barbed wire-topped concrete walls.

Driving anywhere, you are immediately assailed by living conditions even the poorest in America cannot begin to fathom. Beggars are everywhere, mostly disabled, some because of natural causes, some because their parents have mutilated them in the hope that people will have more pity on them.

I have seen children and babies whom families cannot afford left abandoned on the side of the road.

People in Nigeria imagine all Americans are rich, which is actually partly true. Almost all Americans are richer than many Nigerians ever will be.

Even the homeless in America have a better life than those in Nigeria.

At least we provide soup kitchens and shelters to help out all we can.

The majority of the population cannot read. The poverty level is astronomic, as 92 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day.

Roughly 45 percent of the population has access to sanitation and water services, and even those are questionable.

There is no reliable source of power in the country, and it is not unusual for the electricity to be out for days at a time.

Living in a place like this for three years had a huge impact on my life.

After Nigeria, I moved to the opposite end of the spectrum. Windsor, England is a small town outside of London and the weekend home of the queen.

England is a country where it seems only the middle to upper classes can survive. Gas was already more than $6 per gallon, pre-9/11. The average price of a meal in a restaurant is around $35. A movie ticket? About $17. Average price of a house? $686,753.85.

Needless to say, prices may be and on the rise here, but we should all count ourselves lucky it isn’t worse.

I also spent a few years living in South Africa, which is a blending of Nigerian poverty in the masses, along with the high-class living of London.

I spent many days in the townships trying to help as much as I could, but I was faced with the simple fact that my actions were not enough to make a huge difference.

HIV/AIDS is reaching epidemic proportions there. The South African government is rapidly descending into corruption with the upcoming election of Jacob Zuma.

Those experiences tend to throw things into perspective. Trust me when I say that Americans live better than anyone else in the world, and most of us don’t acknowledge it.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that many of us are fiercely patriotic; it takes only a quick drive around Norman, keeping an eye out for the multitudes of flags and nationalistic slogans, to demonstrate that.

But more and more people whine about the U.S. every day.

People complain about tap water and refusing to drink anything that doesn’t come from a bottle.

People grumble in doctors’ offices about the wait, or the cost, when many people in the world have never even seen a doctor.

People gripe about the recent football loss to Texas as if it were the most important event in the world.

People go on and on about the rising gas prices and how they will affect their ability to buy that really nice new pair of shoes.

My favorite complaints are those concerning academia, which usually can be simplified into one of two core problems. Either the class is too hard, or the teacher is not good enough to teach.

For those who complain about those things, at least you are in college.

At least you have the good fortune to be in America, where you have the opportunity to go to college.

If it really is too hard for you, then leave and let someone else have your spot.

I am not naïve enough to think this country is perfect. In fact, I agree wholeheartedly with many of the people who have issues with the country in general.

I also don’t think complaining is a bad thing. If we did not have the ability to voice our opinions, then we might as well be living in a fascist nation.

Thanks to the Constitution and the foresight of those who wrote it, we have every right to complain about whatever it is that concerns us.

However, we all should at least try to understand the difference between complaining and whining.

Complaints are, hopefully, logical, factual and reasonable. Complaints should also have some sort of evidence to back them up.

Complaints should be relevant to more than just one person.

If for some reason not being able to buy that pair of shoes is going to affect your whole community, then, by all means, complain till you are blue in the face. Otherwise, you are just whining.

Zach Holder is a letters sophomore. His column appears every other Friday.