L is for a Great Big World

I'm doing the A-to-Z Challenge.

Today is for L, and L is for Lesotho.

It's a kingdom landlocked by South Africa.

It's a tad bit bigger than the state of Vermont but, according to its most recent census, it has about three times as many residents.

It is ruled by a constitutional monarchy, and its capital city is Maseru.

Lesotho is best known for its water and its diamonds.

It probably seems like a strange thing to blog about, especially considering I'm on the other side of the world.

So why did I choose to blog about Lesotho?

It's been my go-to response when I'm looking for something that starts with the letter "L" ever since a friend of mine called me a cheat when I put it down as an answer in a game of Scattergories.

That isn't really a place, she said.

Yah, it is. Look it up, I shot back.

If we'd have had Internet back then, I'd have been Googling the heck out of it just to prove I was right.

I'm not much of a traveler and I'm admittedly a typical egocentric American, so I sometimes find it difficult to wrap my head around the idea that there could be an entire country -- with 2,000,000 residents, no less -- of which few people have heard.

I try to keep places like Lesotho in mind whenever I feel like the world is ganging up on me.

Whatever troubles I might be dealing with are likely pretty small compared to the great big world that's out there, complete with parts some people have never heard of.

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Kathryn Harris is an award-winning journalist and author of the contemporary novel THE LONG ROAD TO HEAVEN. All royalties she receives from April 2016's online sales of The Long Road to Heaven will be donated in memory of the late Caylee Hoehne to the United Way for use with the Court Appointed Special Advocates program for abused and neglected children. Please consider helping this worthwhile cause.