Poverty Challenge - Me vs. Reality

Today was a day of great reflection.  I decided to buy some Jello today.  I hate Jello, but the idea of eating something sweet and cherry flavored suddenly made my mouth water.  I realized today, that my experience with the poverty challenge isn't a true simulation on many levels.  The most important being, that I know that my experience with extreme poverty can and will end when I choose.  This means that, while I've been craving things I can't afford, I'm able to convince myself that sometime soon in the future I could buy that again.  This means I've stayed away from a lot of things I would like to have, that are a bit out of my $1.50 a day budget.  I realize however, that someone living in extreme poverty does not have this luxury.  They may never see an end to their poverty, and even worse, may never realize the experience of being out of extreme poverty.  I suppose if that were the case for me, I might be inclined to buy the things I could afford for just a day of enjoyment.  Even if there were unpleasant consequences I would still probably go to some pretty big extremes to have just one day where I could treat myself...an important reflection I think.