First World Problems

Every Thursday evening after supper, I drive my 14-year-old daughter to her guitar lesson, and while she’s there, I pop over to WalMart across the street, and hang around their books section until it’s time to pick her up (in the summer I hang around the garden center, obviously).

Anyway. After the lesson is over, I pick her up and we stop in at McDonald’s where we each enjoy a snack-sized Oreo McFlurry and some mother-daughter quality time that includes conversation (we don’t just sit and stare at each other as we stuff our faces). The topic of discussion varies, but it’s always interesting. A couple of weeks ago, I asked my daughter how things were with her boyfriend (yes, she already has one of those) to which she answered ‘great’. She likes many things about him, how thoughtful and caring he is, and that they have a lot in common.

“Like what?” I asked.

Like how they both agree that their generation is rotten. Spoiled. Whiny.

Huh?

“Have you heard about first world problems?” She asked.

“Yes, I have. There’s even a funny video about it that’s quickly circulating around the web”

“We complain about stupid things.” She said.

“We sure do.” I added. “Where do you think you fit in there?”

She surprised me by answering something like this: “Well, I’m a little bit like that. But maybe not too bad. I do complain about stupid stuff, but I know I shouldn’t.” (Admitting to be less than perfect in the teen years?)

“We all do.” I told her. “It’s all relative. We are complainers, and the complaints are relative to the lives we lead. The cushier our lives are and the smaller our problems are, the stupider our grievances. It’s shameful when you stop and think about it. There are people facing real problems in this world. Perhaps we should remind ourselves of that once in awhile, so we can practice gratitude instead of whininess.”

Sadly, she’s right. For a society that lives quite comfortably, we sure can find a lot to bellyache about.

Here is the video that makes me hang my head in shame because I’m guilty of some of the things depicted in it.



Perhaps today we can all practice gratitude for the comfortable lives we lead in wealthy, industrialized countries. Particularly those of us who don’t know what real problems are.