When that alarm rings at the crack of dawn every weekday morning, another day of textbooks, notebooks, and binders is about to commence.

This fact harvests groans, sighs, and complaints from the teenage American students about to get out of a big, comfortable bed, take a hot shower before the day begins, and head to a school with desks, supplies, and even computers.

Compared to students who are halfway around the world in areas such as the Middle East, American students are extremely fortunate, lucky, and at times, a little spoiled.

I recently read the novel Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

It is the story of Mortenson and his dedication to building schools and promoting peace in the hostile countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

After a failed attempt of climbing K2, the second highest peak in the world, Mortenson is nursed back to health in the miniscule village of Korphe, located in Pakistan.

He has to go through a healing process after the climb and makes plenty of friends from the village along the way. While there, he asks one of his friends, the village chief, Haji Ali, to show him the school in the village.

Reluctantly, Haji Ali leads him to the school – a clearing atop a ledge which the children must climb each day. Here, they sit on the frozen ground and learn lessons by writing with sticks in the sand and dirt.

By the way, their teacher can only make it up to the "school" to teach them a couple times a week because he is shared among the children of Korphe and of a neighboring village, so often times, the children have to teach lessons to themselves and each other.

And we complain if our school’s computers are slow or about the temperatures of the rooms in the building?

As Americans, myself included, it is kind of in our nature as a society to complain about what we want and what we don’t have. But once we know better, we must do better.

We know that it is hardly acceptable to complain about our school, but that doesn’t stop us from doing so. Instead of fretting about our school, be grateful because not everyone is quite so fortunate.

I am involved with Shores’ Amnesty International group, and this year, we set a goal of raising $13,000 to build a school in Cambodia.

Inspired by the organization The Girl Effect and the novel Half the Sky, away we went on a fundraising frenzy.

We have since met that goal.

Along the way, I have learned so much about the state of schools and education, or lack thereof, in other countries.

The effect of education is especially significant for girls in other countries.

In most Middle Eastern countries, girls aren’t even allowed to attend school, and if they do, they run the risk of being kidnapped and sold into slavery along the way.

That is where organizations like The Girl Effect and the Central Asia Institute (started by Mortenson) come in.

They make it possible for the girls – and boys – of those countires to get to school safely and receive an education that they deserve.

It’s difficult to believe a lot of the facts, but we have to recognize these things and do what we can to help.

Building a school will solve so many problems in Cambodia.

It will solve more than just the issue of having another generation that would otherwise lack a suitable education.

It will change the lives of not only one generation of Cambodian children, but many more for a long time.

This leads to the betterment of the country as a whole.

So recognize what we are lucky enough to have.

Simply having a building to come to every day, and being able to travel to and from this building safely is a blessing and a privelge.

Plus, our school has so many opportunities for all of us as students – AP classes, an excellent fine arts department, great sports programs, and more.

It is also our responsibility to take advantage of the resources we are given. It is all a part of the "being thankful" process.

They say you don’t know what you have until you lose it.

It is not possible for us to fly to the Middle East and take a look at their schooling firsthand, but just think about it.

As Americans, we should be grateful and aware of the great fortune that we are given in terms of education.